Judge orders German based Double Ring SCEO SUV’s to be destroyed!
More bad news for Double Ring! We previously reported that the judge had stopped sales, but now he has gone one step further in asking for the cars to be destroyed!
The importers of the Chinese Shuanghuan CEO sports utility vehicle (SUV) 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 Friday, reported dpa.
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.
Deservedly so!!!!
Shit China!
Well done, I hope all the world copy the iniciative and destroy all the ripped-off and bad copied products. Chinese have to start designing their own stuff.
I agree! The rest of the world is tired of cheap copies of other people’s products coming from China. This kind of lawsuit is bound to happen many more times in many places.
Chinese Shuanghuan is just a small automobile maker. They have probably learn an expensive lesson.
But like it or not, China will be the next super exporter of cars. With a growing middle class and the economy of scale, who can compete with them. The quality and designs have already started to improve compare with 1~2 years ago. The Chery Faira, or the BYD F1 are examples of some of good looking, cheap compact that will do well in the future.
The Japanese, Korean, US carmakers are all guilty in one time or another in copying each others’ designs.
I am an idiot.
That is very true, the world is expecting to see more from the chinese market not only because of the competitive prices but also because of the always improving quality.
Im totally convinced that chinese can do much more better than what they are actually doing, they have the technology and the resources to do it, thats why is really annoying and disappointing when you see those cheap and bad copies and even more when those companies dare to go abroad with those products, of course they don’t deserve less.
The only contribution this companies are doing is to worsen and deteriorate even more the image of chinese products.
Fortunately we can find good example of creative work and an effort to improve in companies like Chery.
I think the government should protect the chinese market stopping once and for all this bad copies and rip-off coming out because they only damage the image of the chinese products and hurting those who are working hard on original designs.
@ Xiaoly
I hope you do watch your language, criticising Chinese copycats is one thing, lumping the whole country together and have a go at once is another thing. based on your name, you know who you are.
@mundosanto
I agree with you completely on this, some companies started off with bad mark like Chery but they realised that and started working with foreign designers and engineers, but other companies just keeps on doing the same persistently, shamelessly. That’s why none of these bad copycats can never rise to the top, so far Chery seems like the only strong contender with multinationals in China, having keep up with this top 5 ranking consistently, and it is bringing out new products and designs as shown recently and the Beijing Auto Show.
And another problem is , it seems like EVERYONE WANTS TO MAKE CARS in china, i mean what the heck, I am thrilled at the rate new comer popping out in China every month if not week, but hardly any of them do well. Seriously, I think Chinese automotive industry really needs a massive shakeup to clean all the dirts.
Seems to be a problem in all areas not only in car industry, this is the most populated country in the world, somebody must have some new ideas, new creativity. Where are the chinese designers, where are the chinese engineers.
You are right there is an amazing rate of new companies that claim to make cars but no one comes with the high level design, technology or engineering.
I would say this is the country with more car companies in the world, but I could count with one hand those with really good quality and creativity to compete in the world market.
Maybe the time will do its work shaking this companies out, I just hope don’t make leave too many scars in the process.
Some remarks here are just that…reflect the writer lol
I would be glad if they copy “democracy as in the west” one day and I bet you still get many “democrats” fuming
Hey, no hardfeelings to commentators here, I just love ordinary people who have sense of humor everywhere in the world. Cheers. Loved my Japanese car ..I think once upon a time, someone’s grandpa said they were wrecks & copied from somewhere
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