News from Japan- Land of the Rising Sun
 

Konbanwa, ogenki des?

Guys as you know, one of our offices and workshop is in Fukuoka Japan.

Many of you will question me about how I am linked to Japan.

In 1993, I was first introduced to motor cars during my time in the Army (it is compulsary to serve in Singapore) , where I got my light vehicle trades certificate. During that time, my mum was working in Fukuoka,Japan and during my annual leave, I visited her there. I was introduced to the Japanese performance industry while I was there, because coincidentally, the Fukuoka Autofiesta was running at the Hakata Baseball Dome. Subsequent visits to Japan and I was introduced to the engineers and kaishan(office executives) from HKS, Apexi and Trust Greddy(which has it's headoffice there). That led me to my interest in cars and when I returned to Perth, I started Speedworks which I subsequently sold, due to my engineering work load at Curtin university. Shortly afterwards, I started Evolution R.

This thread is set up to keep forum members informed of the actual situation in Japan and it's companies, not the rumours you hear online. I will keep this forum updated regularly.

Info:
1) HKS-usa has not closed down yet but operations will continue as per normal until August 2011, after which HKS Japan will take full charge.

2) Thanks to a few of your enquiries, just been informed by my Japan office that we can get most of Zero Sports products now from its old warehouse.

3) Good news! Been also informed today that Zero Sports Japan will resume business soon and you can purchase any of their products through us as of today.

4) Apexera (previously known as Apexi) and HKS sorta linked. One brother owns Apexera and the other owns HKS.

5) Why did Apexi close down? The management of Apexi entered into dealings with a Korean security company. The director of that company did a runner with Apexi's money. Some of you 'oldies' who have been around a long time like me will remember that Apexi actually went into car alarms awhile back.

6) How to tell the difference between real and fake HKS SQVs --- read my HKS SQV for sale thread.

It would be so much better if they removed the a from Fukuoka ;)

hahaha marc-san bakachinko!

7) The Apexi Power FC story --- Apexi Power FC was designed by a group of Japanese automotive engineers who were also minor stakeholders in Apexi. When Apexi got into trouble (you can read the info in the above thread), the funding for the PFC was affected. Each of these engineers who were also stakeholders split up from Apexi, although they are now still Power Excel Dealers. Hence, they refuse to serve Apexi by providing additional support for the Apexi PFC and each of these Excel dealers in Japan are doing their own thing independent to the new Apexera itself.

I got this info through the Apexi Excel Dealer who was also a Apexi stakeholder, located in Fuji prefecture, Japan.

hope arc will come back like zero sports. they have all those new parts for the evo X ect and heaps of cars i see use arc. what happen to them :(

8) Dataloggit for Apexi PFC: After the Apexi incident as can be read from no.7, one of the power xcel dealers left for New Zealand and is now based there. In conjunction with the kiwis and with his knowledge of the Power FC software, they created dataloggit so that end users could tune their PFCs without the hand controller.

I spent some time in Japan this year and absolutely loved it, planning to go back for a month early next year. Will spend most of my time snowboarding but definately planning on getting out to some factories etc. Its good to hear you can get ZeroSports parts, what is your pricing like? I have a specific part I am after but it is ~$600 plus shipping from XXX and I choke at the idea of what should really be a $30 part

Send me a PM and I will chk the price out for ya.

9) Good news! Just got updates from the ex-director of ARC: ARC will be up and going in a few months.
Projected time of reopening is in the Japanese Autumn of this year.

[QUOTE=red dragon2002;572669]hope arc will come back like zero sports. they have all those new parts for the evo X ect and heaps of cars i see use arc. what happen to them :([/QUOTE]

10) We have been informed by Cusco that they are now known as Carrosser, although the 'Cusco' branding will be kept the same. All authorised Cusco distributors including Evolution R and dealers will have a contract with Carrosser Co. Ltd framed in their premises as from July 2011 onwards, due to the influx of imitation Chineses copies.

11) Old news: Bride Japan initially manufactured their seats in Taiwan. As usual, the Taiwanese factory started selling them through the back door of the factory. Bride Japan got pissed off and subsequently, the American owned Taiwanese company TEES quickly registered the trademark for Bride under their own company. Bride Japan then moved its operations back to Japan. However, 'Bride' is still sold by TEES as a 'genuine' product from Taiwan 'legally'. Also, lower quality Chinese copies have since appeared on the market as well. What a fuck up! But as usual, the Japanese made ones are still the best in terms of safety and quality.

12）Evolution R has joined up with our local company in Japan to build a new web-based performance sales site to join the ranks of Rhdjapan and Nengun. This will be launched within 3 months. All queries and payments will be directed to our Japan office when this is set up and Evolution R will just provide after sales support here in Australia.

13) I have been instructed to advise Exedy Customers of the Taiwanese look-a-like copies that have been in the market for the past year. Please purchase genuine Exedy clutches that will give you both the performance you need without ruining your Subaru gearbox.

i) To tell whether the clutch kit is authentic, there should be a white mark on the pressure plate
[IMG]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1107/dsc00738qr.jpg[/IMG]

ii) The button rivets on the organic plates are gold and has always been gold. There is also a white 'EXEDY' wear paint on the heavy duty organic clutch plate.
[IMG]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3954/dsc01223ee.jpg[/IMG]

14) Evolution R's investment in China INGMAX, have joined up with SPK Co Ltd in Osaka, together with Carrosser Japan (CUSCO) and will be supplying the Chinese market with proper Cusco engine oil and Japanese made racing equipment. This follows the expansion of Beijing's circuit. Macau's circuit and also the drift circuit in Guangdong. China will also see our presence when Cusco's Time Attack and rally Subarus are racing in China.

We will be listed in [url]www.cusco.co.jp[/url] in the following weeks to make our international debut.

15) INGmax Co Ltd (Japan) will be relocated to Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. From our last board meeting, our Cusco engine oil distribution in China will be headed by INGmax China (Chinese website: [url=http://www.ingmax-auto.com]INGMAX[/url]). You can see us at: [url=http://cusco.co.jp/en/distributor/]06_Distributor English page CUSCO[/url]

INGmax Co Ltd. In Japan will be launching our Japanese manufactured products in March and will begin distribution worldwide in April.

In corporation with Carrosser Japan and SPK Osaka, Evolution R will continue the supply of Cusco engine oil in Australia.

Evolution R will also merge into the INGmax network in March and will be the distribution point for Oceania and South East Asia.

16) Nippon Seiki, manufacturer of Defi Meters, have announced the release of a new Defi Advance Control unit which will supersede the current version for the Defi Advance BF meters, before the end of March 2012.

Updates:
Our international sales site has had a delay due to multiple changes in design and layout. Regardless, INGMAX and Evolution R has already commenced our operations and are able to send you parts out of our warehouse direct to your local addy straight from Japan.

Fukuoka, Japan warehouse:
[IMG]http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8895/dsc02850j.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/7439/dsc02859gv.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7894/dsc02852n.jpg[/IMG]

Mr Imoto, ex-HKS mechanic has now come on-board with us:
[IMG]http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6993/dsc02851s.jpg[/IMG]

As we are local to the JDM market, we can get our hands on anything:
[IMG]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8039/dsc02857g.jpg[/IMG]

Congrats Mao, all the best for the future with it. :icon_thum

Evolution R and INGMAX Co Ltd Japan will be representing Cusco and STD at the SEMA Show 2012 in Beijing, in corporation with the new SEMA China Developement Business Tour. We are proud to have been invited as guests exhibitors with all costs covered by SEMA USA, as one of the premium suppliers of quality parts thoughout the world. This is an initiative taken by SEMA USA to bring quality produce and manufacture into China, while filtering out non-genuine low quality aftermarket products and understanding how the emerging markets are influencing the aftermarket industy.

For more information, please go to:
[url=http://www.sema.org/events/2012/09/02/sema-china-business-development-tour]2012 China Business Development Tour | Specialty Equipment Market Association[/url]

Good stuff mate :)

Evolution R and Ingmax Co Ltd Japan, in cooperation with Carrosser, will be launching the new API SN Cusco fully syn 5w-30 and 10W-50 Boxer engine oil worldwide in 6 weeks.

For more info, please see:
[url]http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/evolution-r/42223-cusco-lubricants-fully-synthetic-race-engine-oils-cusco-lsd-oil-3.html[/url]

Unofficially, Cosworth USA has closed down. I have heard this from HKS Japanese staff who moved there after HKS USA closed.