yep - because the 2 decades of my residence ended in 2007, and yes people do spend money to buy the car but then buy cheap pattern parts to service it. Its not limited to cars its everywhere. The lowest cost dominates quality in every situation in that country, no matter if that cost is repeated 5 times over a single service life.
I used to have a place where I serviced cars as a trade in Pakistan, it was not fun though because our Pakistani customers are thick headed - so I just had a small pool of customers mostly with european metal because I do not want to handle stupid lying cheating SOBs. Speaking of electrocution and other accidents, I believe you have never heard or even known of the plethora of mechanics who died while trying to repair the new fangled common rail direct injection diesels when they tried to undo a high pressure line to "bleed" it.
Major parts replacements in Pakistan are done with pattern replacements (if new and junk replacement if old). Witness any automatic transmission repair and you will see yourself. You will also find dealerships everywhere in Pakistan trying to "unbrick" Air bag control modules for use (this is highly illegal in developed countries).
Another little nugget - most japanese engine cylinder head repairs in Pakistan are done with valve guides that come in a box called Fuji, infact this item from Japan comes in a large package with the brand name of Rocky and is repacked in Karachi but it is sold as Fuji because rocky doesnt sound Japanese (according to the importer who is also the repackager). While the OE items which are available are never used mostly due to cost reasons, this is false economy by any scale because the replacements dont even work for half the OE life items.
Another funny reason is given that you can use an OEM part and it will serve full quality of an OE part. Whats funny is that an OE part actually is certified by the manufacturer for quality, the OEM part may/maynot be the same OE quality even if its the same part with the OE markings ground off.
anyway - your money, your car, your choice. You think the Prius is the next best thing since sliced bread then all the best to you. This sort of phenomenon has happened in the past quite a lot - nothing special.
