SSR bankrupt
 

This may just be a bad rumor but it is being reported that SSR is bankrupt and will not continue to make wheels.
Here is a link to a thread on corner-carvers.
http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21289

mike

Probably because the dumbasses quite making their most popular and best-selling wheel, the Integral A2.

Sorry, but it's bullshit.


-Ted

I hope that you guys are right. I haven't even gotten close to getting the formula mesh rims yet! =)

No way, their Type-Cs sell like crazy and they just started selling the GT2. That's got to be bullshit.

I just tried to order the Type C's from a company and they told me they do not get them anymore due to SSR going bankrupt.

form Gary@tirerack off another board...

tire rack owns part, if not most of SSR

the professor sp1's and d5r's are under tire racks power.

Are you sure? That's the first time I've ever heard that. AFAIK, Tire Rack is just an exclusive distributor for some of SSR's wheel models, e.g. SSR "Type C" wheels are sold in the U.S. and marketed under the "Competition" name solely by Tire Rack.

well i dont know either way but i do kno9w that ssr's gt3's are rediculously expensive. i was deciding between them and the volk gt-us i have now and ssr wantted like astupid amount more so i said f that and got the volks. i mean them were both just as good looking so it wasnt like i was settling for less just less money alot less

To my basic understanding with our contacts in Japan. lol. We are a Work Wheel importer. Tirerack has purchased the rights to the SSF technology. Aside from that I know not much more. I too have read in papers from Japan online that the company has bankrupt, whether that means a reorg or completely out I do not know nor want to speculate.

It's unfortunate if that is what happens. The wheels available from SSR in Japan are just beautiful. It's too bad that they weren't readily available here.

Another rumor I've been told is that the USA tirerack SP1 is not the same as the Japanese one. Anyone care to specify what this difference might be. Different origin of manf, different process???

Laters, Rishie

WHAT???
This sounds like bullshit.

I'll check my sources for the SSR backrupcy news myself...


-Ted

speedking and RETed, yes it does sound like total BS, but i have a good friend that's affiliated w/ tire rack and purchased their rims countless times, and told me that this is true.

but i do believe this is only considering the USA branch..... not Japan

I have been told this is SSR Japan that has filed. To my knowledge there is no SSR USA so to speak, just exclusive importers. i.e Eurosport Hawaii and Tirerack.

Sorry for the knee-jerk reaction, but I had to just confirm it myself.

NO, Tire Rack does NOT own any part of SSR Japan, period.

When I got word back, it's worse than mentioned in here.
What was told to me was that SSR Japan just folded.
No warning, nothing.
There is no talk about restarting the company at all.
I dunno where the restructering part came from, but from what I've been told, SSR Japan is gone. :(


-Ted

doh!
closed the doors huh? probably because material prices for luminum have skyrocketed now that China is buying anything they find to get the country up to speed in the world manufcturing marketplace.

thats too bad.
but now Rota can make copies of all of their wheels and we'll get the cheaper... even if they are not as strong.
j/k
;)

i guess i won't be getting a set professors after all. I guess i'll have to settle for some Work meister's instead.

That is terrible news, their wheels were very high quality and lightweight for the price -- and good looking too. I guess I won't be getting that set of GT-2s after all...:(

so im assuming that any of there rims will be harder and more expensive to get a hold of pretty soon.

http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/sangyo/...B27012005.html


According to Excite translator, the text reads:
The speedster and affiliates have applied for the voluntary bankruptcy.

The speedster sales of the speedster of the aluminum foil
manufacturing sales for the car (Osaka Prefecture Yao City and president
Masanobu Hamada) and affiliates (Osaka City and president Nobuko Hamada)
applied to the Osaka district court for the voluntary bankruptcy on the
27th. Liabilities are 6.7 billion yen in total of the two companies. As
for the speedster, the achievement deteriorates because of competing
intensification with an overseas product etc.The influence reached the
speedster sales of sales companies, and the voluntary bankruptcy was
applied for. (13:01)



-Ted

Sheit! Looking at SP1 for a while now. Dang!

It would be nice to hear from connor@tirerack about the SSR situation. HINT, HINT.

Yeah, I know people with special orders with SSR Japan.
They are being told not to hold their breath about getting the rims. :(


-Ted

I had the opportunity to have dinner with the vice president and several staff of Speed Star Wheel Co November '04 during the SEMA show. There has been much concern by numerous Japanese companies about where the 'performance' market is headed. They were good people and I didn't notice any serious indication of the company's demise.

Unfortunately, it is not a rumour and is 100% true. SSR will go bankrupt, as they were not able to recoup their recent capital investments on new machinery and facilities due to a loss of sales to lower quality, high volume inexpensive wheel manufacturers such as Rota, ADR, etc etc etc.

Another factor is that their newer wheel lines simply were not up to par with some of the other higher end competition. I definitely prefer the old SSR wheels of the 80's and early 90's.

While their collapse has a lot to do with their business decisions, those who purchase inexpensive knock off wheels did play a role in the company's collapse. Speed Star Wheel Co has been making wheels for over 30 years :(

This bankruptcy will not be the last of the big name japanese performance companies to collapse due to oversaturation of the market. Several other big name Japanese performance companies that many know and love are publically held and must answer to their shareholders on why sales in recent years have been stagnant.

Here's to you, ebay buyers, internet bargain hunters, and proselytizers of knock off goods :flipoff:

the good news is that the companies that do go bankrupt will be purchased by other companies....bad news is that the level of innovation and company identities will drastically change (reads as: no new shiet)

That sucks, i have had my heart set on SSR competitions for like the past year. I was gonna pick a set up sometime withing the next year or two. What the hell!!!!!
Adam