Chinese carmaker found guilty of copying Italy’s Panda car
On 18 July a court in Turin (Italy) found Great Wall Motor guilty, slapping a € 15,000 (US$ 23,000) fine for the first Peri imported with fines of up to €50,000 for further violations.
This is the second ruling against Chinese carmakers.
Great Wall deputy general manager Bai Xuefei has rejected the claim that his company copied the Panda, saying that the carmaker is assessing whether to appeal or not.
The car is exported to Europe, Russia, Latin America and South-East Asia, and the company has increased its capacity to 500,000 units per year with sales worth 30 billion yuan.
The company has also been accused that two other of its economy cars are copies of Japan’s Toyota Yaris and Daihatsu Materia.
Such charges against Chinese companies are not new. Last year, a regional court in Munich, Germany, ruled that Shijiazhuang Shuanghuan Automobile could no longer sell its CEO sports utility vehicle in Germany because it resembled BMW's X5.
Also last year Mercedes-Benz said Shijiazhuang Shuanghuan’s Noble minicar was like its Smart for Two car, and got an injunction against the car from participation in the Bologna Motor Show in Italy.
Toyota failed however to stop Shuanghuan from selling its Ufo model, which it claims to be very similar to its Rav4 but at a price tag that is 40 per cent cheaper.
In 2004 US-based General Motors said that the QQ by Chery Automobile was a clone of its Chevrolet Spark.
But for John Bonnell, director of marketing intelligence for Asia-Pacific at J.D. Power, “most Chinese brands still have a quality gap to close with global manufacturers.”
In his view “the measures for quality spelled out for Chinese carmakers recently do indicate those companies are still learning the complicated process of manufacturing [their] vehicles.”
Still Chinese carmakers want to flood the world market and take advantage of their lower production costs thanks to cheap labour and energy and state subsidies. (PB)
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14/09/2007
20/04/2021 11:39
