genuine HONDA parts - made in TH?

[Klaus]

I put a new chain and sprocket set on my bike today, the "real thing" from the HONDA dealer, genuine parts. That's what it said on the package, but then it said: Made in Thailand - and on the parts were stamps that said SUN STAR or some weird brand. Looks like parts bought in Thailand, packaged as HONDA parts. I could have bought a set for way less money, also made in Thailand. Is there a difference in quality? Does anybody have "inside-genuine-parts-information"?

 

[HIKO]

KLAUS

Honda is not manufacturing all parts themself.For example in Japan they use SUN STAR sprockets which are of very high quality. Probably then Sun Star has put up a Factory in Thailand also to meet the demands of Honda.The chain Honda uses in Japan is almost always DID made by the Daido factory. It is very possible that they use DID here in Thailand also since Daido has a factory here.

When Honda put up a new factory in any country the assume and push all their normal suppliers to put up their subsidiaries close to the Honda Factory, That is why all Honda suppliers are present in Thailand also.

In US Honda put up a Car factory in Ohio long time ago and very close around the factory they got a clusters of their own supliers in the same samall Ohio City.

Hondas strategy is based on experience from Belgium in the 1960:s. Honda decided to put up a new motorcycle factory inside the emerging EU and Belgium belonged to BENELUX which was the base for EU. They started to make motorcycles in Belgium relying on local suppliers and it all ended up in a mess, Honda loosing big money and closing the factory. The manager of the factory later made a huge carrier at Honda and his experience were used when starting new ventures and the lesson they learned was that take your suppliers with you.

In later year Honda has softened its approach. Honda Italy uses for example Brembo Brakes, lighting systems,meters, switches etc from italian factories.

If you buy Honda Original Spare Parts from a Honda Dealer you should be safe. The parts they sell meets Honda's quality standards even if the parts are from Thailand. You can buy Honda Original Parts from other shops but they maybe fake packing from Taiwan or China. You can also buy Thai made JT sprockets and a DID chain from any shop and you get the same quality at a lower price...
The "ORIGINAL SPARE PARTS" is also a myth created by marketing people who want to sell their products at a higher price. HIKO

 

[Klaus]

Thanks HIKO, now I can sleep better! Guess I have to trust HONDA and what they recommend. Even if they'd made parts in China, I guess they're high quality if it says HONDA on them. . .