BMW loses X5 Clone Wars
 

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....se_bmw_580.jpg

A court in Italy has just ruled that the crossover pictured above, the five-seat CEO built by Shuanghuan Automobile of Shijiazhuang, China, is not a clone of the BMW X5. Um... yeah. The legal battles began when Shuanghuan introduced their "Noble" last year, a near-clone of the Smart fortwo. Mercedes-Benz wasn't impressed, and threatened a lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, BMW started losing sleep over the Chinese CEO, an obvious facsimile of their previous-generation X5 (E53). The Bavarian automaker took Shuanghuan to court in Munich this past summer and won their case, and when Martin Motors (the distributor of Shuanghuan Automobiles in Italy and central Europe) started selling the CEO in early 2007, BMW again took legal action, this time in the Italian judicial system.

Last week, the Germans met their defeat when the Italian courts rejected their claims. To date, Martin Motors has sold about 200 copies of the CEO and expects to sell about 1200 this year in their European markets. "We are convinced the CEO wasn't a clone of the X5. We are happy to see our view supported by a court ruling," said an obviously pleased spokesperson from Martin Motors.

Of course that's the ruling ... how much money do you think the Chinese spent ... not in developing the car ... the bribes! :D

Blind judge perhaps? :confused:

Cheap imitations and counterfeits from Asia and China are a huge problem for a number of industries. Companies like BMW have to fight this and pursue aggressively. It's a huge problem for them, I think we are likely going to see more of this over time.

Remember the Chinese auto company Chery?

It’s state owned. So the Chinese gov't is in the car business, cheating and stealing designs. Nice.

GM filed a lawsuit against them for pirating a car developed by its South Korean affiliate Daewoo. The case was settled, but they can still sell the car in other locations – the doors and other components are interchangeable.

Totally and completely ridiculous. The Chinese company should be required to show all the R&D that went into the "CEO" proving the renderings were created by them and weren't based on the X5. I wonder if the courts would have decided differently if the Chinese were blatantly copying a Ferrari design.

I am dumbfounded by this decision.

Their R&D would include pictures and measurements of X5. :rofl:

There was a write up in a car magazine early this year I think about the CEO. All looks - it was old technology, poor manufacturing, low grade materials.

LOL... you can bet that it wouldn't have even made it that far

looks like a E53 mounted a KIA and this was there offspring;puke;

nothing the chinese can make(copy) will ever compete with BMW, years of racing knowledge and trail n' error will never come from copying....never mind the materials used are probably crap

also CEO lol thats hilarious, gives its such prestige

My guess is the "CEO" does not have the engine(s), brakes and suspension
goodies of the X, :rolleyes: :rofl:

China's gov't has made its own rules for a long time...

CEO? I wonder if my wife gets a residual on every one of those sold. :D