A Munich court ruled in favor of the Bavarian automaker BMW in a dispute with the European distributor of the Chinese brand Shuanghuan. As a result of the proceedings, it was decided that the Shuanghuan CEO SUV, whose exterior largely replicates the design of the BMW X5, can no longer be sold on the German market. This decision came just seven days after the official importer of Chinese cars in Germany, China Automobile Deutschland, had only begun delivering the UFO and CEO models to local dealers. The importer still has a chance to appeal the verdict, but if the appeal is unsuccessful, sellers will have to return the cars to the manufacturer.
The essence of the German side's claims is that the rear part of the Chinese SUV almost exactly replicates the rear of the X5. In response, Shuanghuan representatives insist that their car has a fully legal design, which was also approved by the Chinese government. The head of China Automobile, Mr. Karl Schlössl, in a conversation with Associated Press journalists, emphasized that the model was created, so to speak, from scratch, and there is not the slightest similarity to the X5 — neither in appearance nor in cost. BMW, however, holds the opposite view: in their opinion, most people, looking at the CEO and the X5, would perceive them as the same car.
In parallel, Mercedes-Benz is waging its own battle against another model from this Chinese manufacturer — the miniature car Nobel, which closely resembles the Smart Fortwo. A week earlier, tire giant Continental also won a court victory over a Chinese company that was distributing counterfeit products of this brand in Europe. This precedent, apparently, gave BMW and Mercedes additional strength in their confrontation with the influx of Chinese copies into the European market.
