Judge orders German based Shuanghuan CEO SUVs to be destroyed!

[Homer_Bart]

The Chinese Shuanghuan CEO that has a similar appearance to a model made by Germany's BMW must halt all sales and destroy all its vehicles in Germany, a court in Munich ruled.

The court ordered the importers, China Automobile, to pay compensatory damages to BMW, which is based in Munich.

BMW alleges that the Shuanghuan CEO closely resembles its X5.

“We are pleased that the court has agreed with our views,” a BMW spokesman said after the ruling.

Karl Schloessl of China Automobile Germany said he would launch an appeal against the ruling, which is not yet binding, saying he was prepared to take the case to the European Court of Justice.

It was impossible to ban a vehicle in Germany that was allowed to be on the road in the rest of Europe, Schloessl said, adding that there were more than 1,000 Shuanghuan CEOs on the road in Italy.

He added that the ruling was based on similarities to the BMW X5 dating back to 1998, describing it as “a very old car.”

Schloessl said the appearance of the vehicle could easily be altered by changing “five or six elements.”

BMW has not made clear whether it will seek the compensatory damages awarded by the court.

In the face of protests from German manufacturers, Shuanghuan withdrew its CEO from the Frankfurt IAA international motor show held in September last year.

While on a visit to China in August last year, Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Chinese carmakers for blatant copies of German makes.

Apart from the CEO, Shuanghuan has drawn criticism for its Nobel, which bears a resemblance to Daimler’s Smart, an ultra-compact two-seater.

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*ashamed...

[Viper007Bond]

The Chinese seem to think if they make identical cars and then sell them for less that they'll see. They seem to not get brand awareness and the idea of "quality".

[Homer_Bart]

I mean, why can't the Chinese car makers in China wake up one day and stop disgracing people of their own race in front of all the Western people who they are trying to impress (i.e. Olympics)?

[eddysdaman]

[MacGuffin]

I read once that there is a proverb by Confucius, saying that it is an honorable thing to work a street that another one has walked before, or something like that.

There simply is no guilty feeling and no awareness of doing something wrong, when they copy things. They seem to think they honor those things by their copying. Whenever there is a trade show here, inspectors from a governmental agency go around and confiscate stuff or close up Chinese booths on behalf of local companies who complained about the plagiates. If they had a sense of doing something wrong, they wouldn't come to the fairs in the first place.

And it's not only cars, it's basically everything. And the companies have to grin and bear it because the Chinese government is very quick with restrictions on the Chinese market. If you complain too loud, you're out.

I suppose since BMW has kind of a strong market position in China and is quite popular with the new wealthy part of the Chinese population, they dared to go to court with it. I hope others will follow to set examples.

[p0w3r]

Originally Posted by Homer_Bart

I mean, why can't the Chinese car makers in China wake up one day and stop disgracing people of their own race in front of all the Western people who they are trying to impress (i.e. Olympics)?

I seriously do not understand the marketing strategy of Chinese companies in general. Why do Chinese companies HAVE TO make copies all the time? Not only cars but also things like clothing and electronics. It blows my mind that a the most populated country in the world with, now at least, a lot of financial backing cannot design their own products. Look at Korea with companies like Samsung and LG which are now very respectable companies. We may say that Korean cars look similar to other cars, but you cannot say that they are nearly blatant copies. The thing that makes me sad is that fact that China CAN make their own products that can be of high quality. Haier makes very good electronics at a reasonable price. Yes, its not dirt cheap, but still cheaper then Japanese counterparts. But the MAIN thing is that it is a high quality product, and what i feel is important. China needs to stop playing the making shitty products game and start playing the making quality products game in order to be respected in the consumer market. No wonder Haier is one of the most known Chinese companies in the United States and a big international company.

[MacGuffin]

Well, there are some established Chinese brands, LG for example. I suppose the majority of those who do the copy job are just after the quick profit with investing as little as possible before. Many of them are backyard factories who look like European 19th century factories.

What really concerns me, is when they only allow technology to be importet into their country, when a joint-venture is made, thus giving them access to the technology, which very likely results in adapting it. Happened with cars, is likely to happen with the Transrapid Maglev train (although that is not so easy to copy) and airplanes (if Airbus really builds a plant in China).

Companies are caught in a dilemma: It's dangerous to go onto the Chinese market (especially for smaller companies), because their technology could be stolen and copied and no one there will do anything about it. But on the other hand they cannot afford to not go to China, because of the economical boom and the huge mass of potential customers.

[AiR]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

Well, there are some established Chinese brands, LG for example. I suppose the majority of those who do the copy job are just after the quick profit with investing as little as possible before. Many of them are backyard factories who look like European 19th century factories.

LG is Korean. The koreans started out as the chinese, they did borrow quite a few things but grew out of it and now are home of some of the most successfull companies in the world (Samsung, Hyundai etc). Maybe the chinese will catch on eventually.

[otispunkmeyer]

i remember when i worked at corus, people were talking about how they were being undercut by chinese made steel where they simply brandished the products with the correct quality markings that the EU requires without actually getting any certification to do so. ie the quality/integrity of structural steel wasnt even checked lol!

their copying more than just infringes on other companies property... its bloody dangerous!

[GraemeH]

It doesn't look any more like the X5 than any other poser SUV. The centre console on the dashboard is the only thing that's really criminally ripped.

[DarkReaper]

So, were any sold yet and do they also have to be destroyed?

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by GraemeH

It doesn't look any more like the X5 than any other poser SUV. The centre console on the dashboard is the only thing that's really criminally ripped.

Did you look at the back end?

[Spectre]

It's very amusing to note that some of the very people accusing *me* of being racist on the VW thread... are posting racist remarks on this thread.

Can't take them, but can dish them out, eh?

[Wizegui]

Originally Posted by p0w3r

I seriously do not understand the marketing strategy of Chinese companies in general. Why do Chinese companies HAVE TO make copies all the time? Not only cars but also things like clothing and electronics. It blows my mind that a the most populated country in the world with, now at least, a lot of financial backing cannot design their own products. Look at Korea with companies like Samsung and LG which are now very respectable companies. We may say that Korean cars look similar to other cars, but you cannot say that they are nearly blatant copies. The thing that makes me sad is that fact that China CAN make their own products that can be of high quality. Haier makes very good electronics at a reasonable price. Yes, its not dirt cheap, but still cheaper then Japanese counterparts. But the MAIN thing is that it is a high quality product, and what i feel is important. China needs to stop playing the making shitty products game and start playing the making quality products game in order to be respected in the consumer market. No wonder Haier is one of the most known Chinese companies in the United States and a big international company.

You do realize that the cost of research and development runs in the millions. In a country like China, where copyright laws are almost non-existent, it is the perfect place to sell a product and make a fair amount of money using a proven design (though the products they make become deadly).

[awdrifter]

It would probably cost them less to pull out of the European market than to redesign the cars. They can still sell them in places where safety and copyright standards are low.

[MacGuffin]

Originally Posted by Spectre

It's very amusing to note that some of the very people accusing *me* of being racist on the VW thread... are posting racist remarks on this thread.

Can't take them, but can dish them out, eh?

That's because those people mention well-known facts here, while you just didn't.

For your information: The German SPIEGEL magazine, one of the most neutral, tolerant and reliable journalistic sources in the world, has brought a big title story some time ago about this very topic and they brought up many more issues than just copying car design.

Besides, nobody said it is a thing of Chinese mentality to copy things or that it lies in their genes to cheat or such rubbish. The problem is political. The People's Republic of China is not a democracy, you know...

[Homer_Bart]

Well, we Chinese might be copying and bribing and doing illegal stuff just so to cut costs etc., but the undeniable fact is that they're/we're rising in power and wealth. And I'm hoping with that they'll come out with something unique, like the recent Chinese concept car shown a few months ago. Maybe one day be like the Koreans, or even like the Japs in the near future.

Just hope nobody becomes a racist just because some black sheep in our community decides to shit on the ceiling instead of the bowl, and employs a blind man to design the exterior and a man with tracing paper to come up with the interior of a car.

[MacGuffin]

Don't worry, you will manage I have the biggest respect for the Chinese history and what they achieved. And I love the food

All those are momentary problems and I'm sure they will be solved in the long term. However, the current situation demands at least talking about those problems without any demureness or keeping a low profile.

The first step in solving a problem, is recognizing that there is a problem

[Posmo]

I think destroying them is a bit harsh. I mean, just tell them to get the fuck out of Europe with them, and change the front/rear design.. I mean, they could sell them in Africa or something, where a car doesn't have to be as good as it does in here..

We all know that those cars would never succeed in a European market, so its no big deal that they wont be coming on sale..