jeffreylin

News report from Taiwan is saying that Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese RC manufacturer has agreed to purchased Assocociated for an undisclosed amount. This merger will create the 4th biggest RC company by revenue, behind Tamiya, Kyosho and Futaba/OS.

lickrim

what up jeff its bitter , maybe barry will move far far away.

JasonC

iTrader: (120)

WOW

jeffreylin

hey what's up bitter!!! how's going? i've been running mostly nitro and am actually in taiwan at the moment. i am racing this sunday and i might get some scoop directly from the thunder tiger guys here.

lickrim

we could still hear his voice saying thats sucks bitter from the dark side of the moon. we love you BARRY RUBLE

lickrim

any chance of getting some 40 band modules , recievers, the switch stuff only

AE Racer

If this is true it probably isnt good because we will probably see more cheap taiwanese parts infiltrating their way into associated kits.

jeffreylin

for KO? 40 band is pretty to get here as it's popular. what's the switch stuff? as in crystal but not synth?

RobertV

OMG

lickrim

ya 40 synth. anything for cheap right now?

syndr0me

iTrader: (32)

I wonder what this will mean for paid/team drivers, and other levels of sponsorship? I'm guessing they're wondering that too. :-)

Should be interesting to see how things shake out, and where people go if they move around.

Entropy

For you information. Taiwan has excellent and cheap manufacturing processes.

Please do not confuse this with China made parts which are currently slowly but surely catching up in standards in quality.

Besides, why do you not question the cheap taiwanese parts in your PC now? Last I heard, a huge chunk of computer parts and components originate from Taiwan.

If buying cheaper priced Associated cars is not your cup of tea, you can always look around for more expensive brands.

You might also wanna check with the more experienced Associated drivers on the shabbiness of Associated "US made" parts.

lickrim

take it over seas , even a R/C company has to cut costs

linger

iTrader: (1)

Actually, just the opposite. I work with injection molded parts and I source many vendors. The current trend is that the overseas parts/molds are higher quality and cheaper to boot. Plus most foreign vendors even have shorter timelines. Odds are that the parts of questionable quality from AE come from a US molder and the higher quality parts come from overseas.

I foresee higher quality molded and machined parts from AE in the future. Hopefully, with TT worldwide distributorship, AE will grow more competitive in the world market.

jeffreylin

A lot of AE parts are already made in Taiwan. The news report cited one of the reason for the merger is that AE is one of Thunder Tiger's biggest customer and their only ODM (original design manufacturer).

As far as quality goes, AE parts were never known for their fit and finish anyway.

Most of HPI parts are made in Taiwan. I think they are made well and certainly not cheap.