Yet they still do it. Third countries will try anyway if there is an unit of money to be made. Besides robots work cheap.
Here most of the NGK I have here are either assembled in the USA using Japanese parts and domestic parts or they are made in Japan. I have enough problems with CMR series out Japan so don't need any them fakes.
Besides I make a decent profit even at my low stock level since I use the NGK suggested retail prices.
View attachment 56261
The quantity sold last year is incorrect due to a program glitch the programmer made last year which since has been corrected. This seems to be the year I sell a lot of plugs as I seeing more failures at the start of the season.