Unbranded Recaro Seats
Discussion
Had a few of these over the years and it got me wondering what the reasons were ?
Had a MK3 3.0S Capri with Fishnet Recaros as per the options list. Seats were made for Ford by Recaro but not badged as such.
The later XR3i had sports seats made by Ford and also used in the 83 2.0S Capri which were quite ghastly.
RS Turbo Escorts had badged Recaro seats initially then an option in the S2.
Early 2.8i Capris have unbadged Recaros and from 83 badged ones.
Current car is a Peugeot 406 coupe built by Pininfarina and possessing bespoke electric, memory, leather Recaros - but not badged at all.
Is it some licencing thing or unofficial supply or something else ?
Had a MK3 3.0S Capri with Fishnet Recaros as per the options list. Seats were made for Ford by Recaro but not badged as such.
The later XR3i had sports seats made by Ford and also used in the 83 2.0S Capri which were quite ghastly.
RS Turbo Escorts had badged Recaro seats initially then an option in the S2.
Early 2.8i Capris have unbadged Recaros and from 83 badged ones.
Current car is a Peugeot 406 coupe built by Pininfarina and possessing bespoke electric, memory, leather Recaros - but not badged at all.
Is it some licencing thing or unofficial supply or something else ?
cologne2792 said:
RS Turbo Escorts had badged Recaro seats initially then an option in the S2.
Just to be a Ford beard, the Series 2 RS Turbo came with badged Recaro seats as standard.. 88-spec used dark grey material and 90-spec used light grey material.To answer you question, I’m not sure. I would assume that it’s either that Recaro are paid extra money to leave their branding off the seats or aren’t prepared to pay the manufacturer a fee to have their the branding on the seat.
Probably the same reason why you get "Ford" branding on bits that are not made by Ford - the majority of parts I would imagine. Personally feel that it would hurt the image of Ford (or any other manu of course) if their products look like a collection of parts from a shedload of suppliers (as they really are).
Recaro make seats for a whole lot of manufacturers.
Vectra GSi seats were recaros - quite commonly sound on a few other cars too if I remember.
I remember the Vectra owners club would utterly jizz over them as the finest thing for you to ever place your bum upon and thus pay silly money for them.
Vectra GSi seats were recaros - quite commonly sound on a few other cars too if I remember.
I remember the Vectra owners club would utterly jizz over them as the finest thing for you to ever place your bum upon and thus pay silly money for them.
Ford always used them as a desirable extra. With the Mk2 RS2000, Fiesta RS1800 and others they were usually standard kit for the first year and then became either an option or part of the Custom pack. Unlike other car parts there is something very nice about Recaro seats that’s above just having a functional part built by a nameless manufacturer.
They occasionally turn up in XK8 Jaguars as an extremely expensive option - look super cool though.
They occasionally turn up in XK8 Jaguars as an extremely expensive option - look super cool though.
In the case of my 3.0S Capri they were on the options list as Recaro Sport Seats for the then massive sum of about £65.
They were bought as and advertised by Ford as a desirable option from Recaro but were never branded such - we just all knew because life was much simpler then and it was probably before product placement existed as an entity.
They were bought as and advertised by Ford as a desirable option from Recaro but were never branded such - we just all knew because life was much simpler then and it was probably before product placement existed as an entity.
mk4gtiturbo said:
Can't answer the question but another example is the mk4 Golf GTI, up until 2002 (ish) the GTI had branded Recaro seats then after that they were just 'sports' seats. I couldn't see any difference other than the logo had gone.
There was 2 types, VW Sport Seats and Recaros.The proper branded Recaros have a slight indentation where the headrest sits.
The branding of components such as seats, wheels, exhausts, brakes, stereos etc by "premium" brands will depend on a number of factors, which could mean those components go branded, or unbranded:
- The products may be lower-quality than the brand's regular, aftermarket products, thus go unbranded to protect the supplying brand (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may not be prepared to pay an additional licensing fee to use the supplier's brand (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may want the public to associate the products with their brand, not the supplier (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may want to exploit the supplier's brand and use it as a marketing tool (thus branded)
etc...
- The products may be lower-quality than the brand's regular, aftermarket products, thus go unbranded to protect the supplying brand (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may not be prepared to pay an additional licensing fee to use the supplier's brand (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may want the public to associate the products with their brand, not the supplier (thus unbranded)
- The vehicle manufacturer may want to exploit the supplier's brand and use it as a marketing tool (thus branded)
etc...
Resolutionary said:
The original Audi A8 with sport trim has Recaro seats, but the brand stamp sits on a small bit of plastic right at the back of the base of the front seats so you'd never really know. Maybe there was an air of subtlety in some earlier manufacturer applications.
Huh, never realised that, thought they all came with Recaro's, although I don't recall looking at a non sport model when I was shopping for mineForums | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff