The recent trade wars between the United States and China have put a little damper (pun intended) in our sales recently. That’s because products manufactured in our own TEIN China factory are being hit with a 27.5% tariff.

What does that mean to the consumer? Actually, even to us here at TEIN USA, Inc., this is a big deal. When we initially offered our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z coilover line, both manufactured by TEIN China, starting price was $400 and $500 respectively. That was quite an achievement for us.

Earlier this year, we had to implement a small price increase for these same products, due to some previously increased tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods. Now, as of July 1st, our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z have a starting price of $620 and $700 respectively. However, this also affects our new ENDURAPRO & ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorber line, which we’ve recently started launching many more vehicle applications. And, it’s also affected our STREET ADVANCE Z4.

Again, that is a huge jump in price. While still reasonable when compared to other aftermarket suspension offerings, this still leaves many customers with some deliberating when choosing their next suspension offering. Again, at that price, you can probably start considering our FLEX Z coilover kit as an option, so long as we have a FLEX Z offering for the customer’s vehicle.

Anticipating this latest tariff increase hurting our sales, we reached out to our authorized dealers and wholesalers in an effort to get them to stock up on coilover kits prior to this increase, which many of them were quick to respond to. So, in a way, we don’t expect our recent price increase to affect customers right away.

At any rate, we truly believe we have some of the best customers around, and we greatly appreciate the support you all have given us over the nearly two decades we’ve spent here on U.S. soil. We hope the U.S. and China can work quickly to reduce these tariffs and let us get back to offering truly reasonable prices to you!