Parts firm denies cooperating with Aston Martin

A People's Daily report on Wednesday said the Chinese subcontractor named in a luxury car maker's recent global recall denied ever supplying or cooperating with the company in tracing fake materials.

But Aston Martin spokeswoman Sarah Calam, UK corporate communications manager of the Warwick-based UK firm, did not reply to Chinese subcontractor's version of events reported in the People's Daily on Wednesday when contacted by the Global Times via -e-mail.

Calam instead e-mailed back a statement repeating that Aston Martin did not blame subcontractor Shenzhen Kexiang for knowingly using counterfeit materials from a local distributor that lead to a global recall.

Aston Martin had traced the original source of the fake material to the local distributor, but "we don't know if the local distributor who supplied this material knew whether or not it was genuine," the statement said.

Aston Martin announced a global recall on February 6 that included most cars produced since late 2007 after it was discovered Shenzhen Kexiang was using counterfeit Dupont plastic materials, according to a document filed with the US National Highway Traffic Safety.

Aston Martin explained in the -e-mail that the company did not blame Shenzhen Kexiang for "knowingly using counterfeit material in the molding of throttle pedal arms" and thought the company had honestly believed the material genuine.

Aston Martin has no direct contractual relationship with Shenzhen Kexiang, the statement said, noting Precision Varionic International (PVI), a British company contracted with Aston Martin, subcontracted the manufacture of throttle pedal arms to Fast Forward Tooling (HK), who subcontracted the work to Shenzhen Kexiang.

Zhang Zhi'ang, "the person in charge" of Shenzhen Kexiang according to the People's Daily, denied his company had cooperated with Fast Forward Tooling. His company was too small to supply Aston Martin, he told the Beijing-based newspaper.

Fast Forward Tooling and Shenzhen Kexiang had assisted in tracing the source of the fake material, Aston Martin said in a statement.

Zhang denied this too, telling People's Daily neither Aston Martin or Fast Forward Tooling had been in contact recently.

Zhang said in the summer of 2013, two people who claimed to work for Fast Forward Tooling asked Shenzhen Kexiang to make a small number of samples, but not products, the report said.

Shenzhen Kexiang has been striving to contact Fast Forward Tooling for an explanation but failed, Zhang was cited as saying by the report.

It is rare for a carmaker to name suppliers in a recall, Zhang Yu, director of Automotive Foresight (Shanghai), told the Global Times Wednesday, noting the carmaker should be held responsible for the quality problem.

Subcontracting is common in the car manufacturing industry, but the carmaker has to inspect suppliers and sub-suppliers to ensure they are qualified, Jia Xinguang, an executive director at the China Automobile Dealers Association, told the Global Times Wednesday.

In the case of Aston Martin, according to its statement, the first-tier supplier PVI, which has a direct contractual relationship with Aston Martin, should be blamed and should explain itself, he said.

The counterfeit material displays the loopholes in Aston Martin's supply chain and quality supervision, Zhang Yu and Jia both said.

Dongguan-based Synthetic Plastic Raw Material, the original source of the counterfeit material, could not be contacted by phone or found at the address supplied by Aston Martin, People's Daily reported.

Synthetic Plastic Raw Material also could not be found in the enterprises registration database on the website of Dongguan Administration for Industry and Commerce.

All companies registered in Dongguan can be found in that database, a staff member of the Dongguan administration told the Global Times Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Aston Martin China plans to recall 1,094 cars in China that may exhibit the defect, according to the statement via e-mail.

Shenzhen Kexiang, the PVI and the FFT cannot be reached by press time.