According to UK-based media service Headline Auto, one of the hot rumors flying around the Auto Messe in Frankfurt earlier this morning was that China Automobile, the German importer for Chinese automaker Shuanghuan, was going to get booted out of the exhibit hall. The controversy stems from some bad blood brewing between Shuanghuan and the mainstream manufacturers whose designs it blatantly, unashamedly copies. On display in Frankfurt are the Shuanghuan UFO and CEO SUVs. UFO is a Toyota RAV4 clone, and CEO is a 95% copy of the BMW X5. (We say 95% because Shuanghuan apparently elected to copycat Mercedes-Benz for the CEO's front end design.)In the end, China Automobile Deutschland got to stay at the show, but Shuanghuan still faces potential trouble ahead, as BMW is considering legal action against the company.
[Source: Headline Auto]
RELEASE:
Headline News: Chinese whispers
Rumours on the morning of the second press day that the IAA show organisers might expel China Automobiles from the show sent TV news crews scurrying to witness the event.
At the heart of the row are the lookalike Toyota Rav 4 - called the UFO – and the BMW X5 lookalike, the CEO.
In the end, there were no flying saucers and no embarrassed chief executives at the importer China Automobiles Deutschland – but it provided for an entertaining interlude.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
agostino @ Sep 12th 2007 3:42PM
The sooner someone does something about it, the better.
Viv @ Sep 12th 2007 3:45PM
Shame on Frankfurt for letting these idiots come into the autoshow in the first place. Every autoshow in the world needs to boot them so that they can learn a lesson.
jay @ Sep 12th 2007 4:02PM
Not only do their cars often blatant copies of other vehicles, they also have the worst names. UFO, CEO? WTF, are these suppose to sound cool?
hotdrop @ Sep 12th 2007 4:02PM
Ha not surprising at least I worked at a company before that was largely based in china and I can tell you that copyright infringment is a totaly foreign concept for them. The chineese division would consistantly send us fakes, substandard parts, and present new discoveries that were actually just plagurized copies of published works
Sirploppy @ Sep 12th 2007 4:06PM
If the crash tests of those models are anything like the "Brilliance BS6", no one in western world will see them on the road anyway...
A.N.E. @ Sep 12th 2007 5:17PM
No one will see them on the western roads? Then why was the Ford F-150 so popular? Check out this crash test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQuNsgT46s.
Back on thread. I really think these Chinese manufacturers should have been booted out.
robotrock @ Sep 12th 2007 6:48PM
As far as the F150 crash test goes...you realize that model came out in 1997 and was probably designed a couple years prior?
The BS6 crash test was this year...and it performed just as bad if not worse.
lovice @ Sep 13th 2007 9:30AM
Just in case you don't know the BS6 was on sale in China since 2000! So it should also be designed some years earlier, too.
A.N.E. @ Sep 14th 2007 4:27PM
@robotrock: How many years did it take Ford to address this? It took the Chinese less than 3 months. See for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPw26Nfze_Q
John P. @ Sep 12th 2007 4:09PM
They should have been sent home. Now if they copied a 1968 Dodge Charger and put a hemi under the hood in 7/8th scale, that'd be cool.
John @ Sep 12th 2007 4:12PM
Between this and the iPhone knock offs, it is amazing if China doesn't become the bane of the civilized world. I'd like to see a crash test for the CEO w/ their accordian crumple zone. I wonder if there is lead in the paint?
blogged to death @ Sep 12th 2007 4:17PM
In today's day and age it's hard to create a "fresh" & "unique" design so every mfgr copies others in some form. And doing so is not a crime so long as the copying is limited or improves the original. The Chinese cars are just cheap and poorly built knock offs and they should be barred from the Auto Show.
Phil @ Sep 12th 2007 7:25PM
That excuse is as flimsy as these cars. Of course cars can look somewhat similar and imitation is competition, captain obvious. But there's a big difference between imitation and outright tracing. When you copy every design cue from one car's rear, from the taillights to the windows to the bumper to the sheetmetal contours, that's copyright infringement.
Phil @ Sep 12th 2007 7:29PM
That excuse is as flimsy as these cars. Of course cars can look somewhat similar and imitation is competition, captain obvious. But there's a big difference between imitation and outright tracing. When you copy every design cue from one car's rear, from the taillights to the windows to the bumper to the sheetmetal contours, that's copyright infringement.
MiniMe @ Sep 12th 2007 4:18PM
That's the only way to prevent Chinese cars from flooding landfills of other countries. They will certainly disintegrate after 20,000 miles, not to mention safety issues that they will bring. Using their standard strategy - sell crap for cheap - they posses real danger. I hope BMW wins the legal action and punitive damages will bankrupt that "auto manufacturer".
Louis Duran @ Sep 12th 2007 4:20PM
Too bad the Frankfurt autoshow people didn't have the balls to actually kick them out. Even for knockoffs these cars look shitty.
Ron Kino @ Sep 12th 2007 4:30PM
First, We have to admit that the Chinese are a rather clever people. You have to give them credit for trying. After all, how many countries can even make knockoff cars? Any Iranian auto industry? Greek? Dutch cars? Argentinian cars? Canadian auto industry? So kudos to them for that. Second, having said that, the Chinese are obviously NOT another Japanese or Korean invasion. I get so sick of hearing that. "they're asians so must all be the same" silliness. Js and Ks originally made cheap cars but they eventually moved up the value chain and invested in branding. The Chinese as a people seem to be only interested in quick profits and running. Money is all they know. Go to Vegas and you'll see all Chinese all day everywhere. This is why they have such huge currency reserves (1.3 trillion!!!) but why nothing they make ever lasts. 3rd, China will remain a 3rd rate power and pretender but we need them to keep our inflation low with their "cheap" products. I don't want to pay $40 for a t-shirt or $100 for a barbie doll. They suffer and we enjoy a higher standard of living.
Keiichi @ Sep 13th 2007 12:56PM
The reason for other countries not producing automobiles is because they have analysts with half a brain in their heads that know the risk vs return of starting a new car brand from scratch. In China, they don't mind experimenting with losses because if they flood the market with enough cheap crap, sooner or later they will profit. Especially when your progress is on the backs of millions of impoverished proles.
Chinese production has ADD. Theyre on such a tight turnaround schedule in production runs that they don't have the time or frankly motivation to care to design anything of their own. All precision manufacturing of long-lasting goods in china is performed by imported labor or contracted foreign firms from Europe and the USA.
Simple. It (hypothetically) costs $1 to copy a new car design, put it on a generic (stolen from someone else) baseline chassis and power it with a license-produced (or stolen) engine design. But to in-house design your own motor, chassis (suspension, steering, braking), and body style costs MUCH more and provides little (if any) return on the initial investment. Why design your own when plenty of people will do it for you? You can enjoy all the profits in the chinese domestic market without any of the investments that these foreign auto companies have made. Its wrong, but whats anyone gonna do about it. Christ, they're showing off their blatant german knockoffs IN GERMANY. It's obvious we're meeting this problem with complete lack of interest.
bill @ Sep 12th 2007 4:49PM
Every time I see a knock off of a legitimate automobile manufacturer's vehicle by some Chinese company I laugh my ass off. We are attempting to deal with Communists.
They don't give a rip about what is legal and illegal. Their form of government is "illegal".
GDUB @ Sep 12th 2007 4:52PM
I cant wait to pick these up at the local walmart when they show up stateside.
I esp like the UFO because it probably costs the same as a oil change for a BMW X5.
These are perfect disposable cars buy for the weekend then just run it into a wall "preferably with u not in it"
I love China
PS The UFO would look so hot with huge DUBS on it.