| Chinese take-off |
|
|
There is a tiff building up between BMW, Mercedes Benz and the importers of certain Chinese cars that bear a striking resemblance to products of the erstwhile German manufacturers. The matter was brought to a head by the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA), where the Chinese importer threatened to put the look-alikes on show and in response to which the German auto-makers threatened legal action. The cars involved were the Noble, which Mercedes asserts is a Smart clone; the UFO, a dead-ringer for a Toyota RAV4; and the CEO, which closely resembles the previous model of the BMW X5. Although the Smart look-alike Noble car was withdrawn from its Frankfurt stand, China Automobile Deutschland (CAD) is showing the CEO, which BMW contends is a copy of the X5, and thus infringes its intellectual property rights. The CEO is already on sale in Germany – via 25 outlets – at 25,900 euros (£17,763). It is manufactured in China by Shuanghuan Automobile and is powered by a 2.4-litre bi-fuel Mitsubishi engine. But the CEO is not imported directly from China: instead CAD is buying the car from an Italian company, Martin Motors, which is Shuanghuan’s European distributor. In a rather curious twist, Martin Motors claims on its Anglo-Italian website that it has ‘collaborated’ with Mitsubishi ‘…for design and frame development’, a fact hitherto not mentioned. I should be interested in your thoughts. Vist the Martin Motors website and tell me what you think. Does the CEO strike you as BMW X5 rip-off? And if there are any Italian readers out there: is the reference to Mitsubishi’s ‘collaboration’ on the CEO’s design reiterated on the Italian-language pages, or has something been lost in translation?
|
Went to the Martin Motors site. Interesting that they show no clear rear views in their photo gallery - and yet the likeness is still obvious. At least they had the decency to slap on a Toyota front end.
I think in some ways BMW are victims of their own temerity in design. The new X5 looks only slightly different to the previous X5, as does the CEO. Their biggest concern should be that the uninitiated will mistake the Chinese 4×4 as the brand new beemer!
Gerry Pollard | 20 Sep 07 - 12:40I fully agree with Gerry’s comment that the uninitiated will probably mistake the CEO as the brand new Beemer and I’m sure this was the intent of its makers, although I’ve not yet found any on-line images of the rear end.
However, with imitation being the sincerest form of flattery etc. there are always going to be look-alike pretenders…. the motor trade and rag trade being prime territories.
AlfaMartini | 20 Sep 07 - 14:42