Ford, as well as other automakers (see here about Suzuki’s efforts in India), are
struggling to protect their intellectual and physical properties from copycats and counterfeiters. Foreign companies in
countries such as China and areas of the Middle East have been either outright using the manufacturer’s emblem on
their non-approved car parts or blatantly copying, for example, Ford’s or GM’s designs for their own
domestic industries then selling their vehicles for thousands less.
A seizure of millions of dollars of
counterfeit Ford parts in Saudi Arabia is what prompted the Blue Oval to issue a press release on the subject. The costs
are high, with an estimated $12 billion lost per year for Ford and the other victims of this crime. Worse yet, the
automakers and their suppliers’ reputations suffer by such fakes when they don’t perform as well as the
original.
[Source: Ford]