dawolf

Thanks Foxy for opening this thread up.

Personally, I want to throw my hat in the ring and say that cloning is good for any business. PERIOD. It is good for HPI, it is good for the sport, that is my opinion and I can back it up with plenty of historic examples. Besides I don't think HPI even has any kind of Patent protecting the design of the 5b. If a product begins to be a big seller, big enough to warrant a "cloning" from a cloning company in China, then that means that usually means that company has a large market share and someone thinks that there is a big market yet to be tapped (with lower priced clones). This is simply the worlds way of keeping companies honest and holding them to task and to create some good competition, maybe inspire them to make improved designs and maybe even lower priced offerings.
I understand the whole thing about engineering and designs being ripped off is not a good thing for manufacturers, but really it is more of a wake up call. It is consumers saying, "Nice product, I would buy it, but I either can't afford it or it is not worth that much to me, however if it were 25-50% less, I'll take 2!" I work in the Pharma Industry alot as a consultant and most people say they should not be allowed to sell medecine for that much, "they are getting rich, and we are paying the price" Pharmaceutical companies sell their pills that keep some of us alive for $5-$10 per pill they have a right, after all they did all the research and development didn't they? And wait they do have legal patents. But guess what, those legal patents expire after 7-10 years and then the "generic companies" come in and make the same drugs, but give them to us for $.50 per pill, how dare they. Wow now the Pharmas know they have to reinvest that money into making a new drug that they could sell for 7-10 years and make alot of money.

The fact is that HPI made a great design in the Baja 5b, and we all have paid for it for years. In fact it is such a great product that someone is going to copy it, (sincerest form of flattery). The Clones are not going to have any parts available for it, they will use HPI Racing parts (If thats not an endorsement). And this is all bad for HPI why? Fact: It is time that HPI lower their price Why? Simple business, if people are willing to buy a Clone because it is cheaper, then your price is too high. If they want to keep their product "Premium" then so be it. Folks will buy clones. Remember if clones are selling for $375 US that means they have to cost less than $175 to produce. How much it cost HPI to make these, my bet is easily less than $175, ok maybe a few bucks more $200 US, add in marketing, nice packaging and we are at $250.00 max. Again this is my opinions based off of my experience in manufacturing and importing quads and dirtbikes from Chinese companies for a few years.

Something to think about: Once upon a time I remember when IBM was the only company putting out PCs (licensed) IBM invented it and coined the term PC, then they licensed it out to a certain few companies, just trying to keep the prices high 3-4 thousand for a PC. Then came all the Clones, Gateway, Dell, and the rest of the gang from computer shopper. PC clone started a revolution in computing like we've never seen, PCs for under $2000.00. All of a sudden everyone could afford a PC. And the best part, most of them could use parts from IBM PCs and were compatible with them in almost every way. Everyone was buying PCs, printers, software you name it. IBM went from the top provider/supplier of PCs to not even a blip in the consumer PC market. They hung on to the business PC market until big companies started buying Dell and Gateways for half the price. IBM finally came around and began competing with the clones, but soon enough it did not matter because IBM was making so much money in services and software as a direct result of this PC explosion, that would never have happened without IBM PC clones.

From the previous thread:
Hey HammerRC,
PM me when you get them clones and you can vouch for the quality that you are holding in your hand, maybe take some high quality pictures, point out the differences etc. I hope it works out and they are decent quality clones.


Well maybe cloning the HPI or other successful RC cars won't revolutionize our society like the PC clone, but it certainly may bring alot more folks into our world who otherwise cannot afford 1000 bucks just to get in. Not sure if 700 is going to do it, but its a good start.

GO CLONES!!! Anyone with good clone scoop, URLs or whatever feel free to PM me. I am looking for a few new vehicles but I am going to be mostly rebuilding them with aftermarket parts and/or beating them up, and getting some of my friends who maybe can't afford HPI into a clone.

Thanks for reading,

Ray