Chinese at it again – Smart ForTwo Clone

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By Alborz Fallah | August 22nd, 2007

Remember how we disagreed with the new head of GM Holden (Chris Gubbey) for saying the Chinese are over copying? Well only today did news of this – Smart clone – surfaced.

The problem wouldn’t be a big deal if China Automobile Deutschland wasn’t planing to bring the car to Europe, but thats exactly what they intend to do, and Mercedes, owner of the Smart brand, isn’t all too happy about it.

Smart Logo From what we can tell, the new microcar is nearly identical to the Smart ForTwo, except that it has four seats (don’t ask how they managed to fit four seats in there). Legal troubles aside, the car is expected to go on sale for around 7,000 euros (~$12,000 AUD) in October.

When confronted with the issue, China Automobile Deutschland Managing Director Klaus Schlössl argued it wasn’t worth getting upset about:

“If I were the auto manufacturer I would not make such a big deal out of it, the cars are priced differently and are in a different class in terms of quality. There are many cars on the road today that look similar to each other,” he said.

Similar to each other? How does identical sound? If what he said was true, and it’s not, we would like to see the Chinese building Ferrari Enzo clones, even if they are powered by a 2.0-litre engine – they should still look good! – and since they are in a different class in terms of quality, that should be okay…

In response, Mercedes has let loose their team of overpaid lawyers to bring the Chinese company to its knees:

“We take intellectual property very seriously and we reserve the right to pursue legal action. (The Noble) is a blatant attempt to copy a product of ours that has achieved cult status worldwide.”

Although Chinese cars have copied Western designs for decades, we have to ask, why would anyone want to copy Smart ForTwo?

http://www.caradvice.com.au Matt

I’d love (hate) to see the crash test on this.
Matthew

Let’s see, congested cities with parking at a premium . . . . it is easy to see why the ForTwo is so popular in Europe and would also be in China. Similarly, why it is *not* popular in Australia; because we do not suffer these afflictions as badly.

But why they can’t use the ForTwo formula and at least be original in design, well, that’s inexcusable.

The Chinese designers need to learn not to copy, and the more who sue them the better. But in China not sure sueing them will have any effect . . . .
Glen

Hmmmm, is anyone really surprised, the Chinese have been making cheap knock offs for everything for decades. Rolex watches, tv’s, dvd players so it was only ever going to happen when they started building cars. The thing is people should not be looking at these chinese cars to buy in the 1st place because of shoddy safety and quality, but there is always the idiots who go “Look i just bought a brand new car for $10000″
arsenalroc

anybody really suprised?
the chinese have been copying so much stuff… somebody needs to put them in their place.. if they want to compete on the world market they need to learn to respect other people’s ideas and property!!
it was toreable to a certain extent when they copied toys but now this is too far…
http://. ROBERTO

Agree it is not suprising. Crash dynamics must be sub-standard – would not like to hit a roo in this thing or a dog in suburbia as you would take your life in your hands with this joke that is probably fitted together with bluetak and perkins paste! How do they get 4 people in there is too amusing for words… like the little mini minor when they attempted world record to get some huge numbers crammed into it. MATE THIS CAR AND ORIGIN IS SO FUNNY AND TYPICAL!!!!
binladen

I think it better than just putting Holden on Dawoo!! Pathetic oshit.
jkk

u know y? coz chinese are not like aussies…fat asses…haha….you guys just keep saying how bad made in china is…so where the hell is made in australia? u aussies are always so pround of australiana made,but too bad…from our standard…made in australia is just a piece of shit!!!!
Bavarian Missile

Mate I could give a list a long as me from the crap stock we as manufactures have received from our factories!!All that matters to the Chinese is the DOLLAR!!!!!!About to move factories for the 3rd time!!!!!!

Australia is a recognized product around the World as quality
China…….hows that lead poisoning going!!!!Pick another battle mate cause we won the war!
IhaveaSmart2

I drive a Smart Fortwo 2008 (a real one), although i find this funny that chinese copy our car i don’t approve. However i understand why they are doing this and where they coming from.

I can only imagine the poor the population in China trying to survive.
By copying everything we make, they hope to make some money for their family… They can not make stuff own their own because they do not have the engineers nor the motivation to invent something from scratch. So they just copy. Its quicker for them. A quick route to money.

In china 98% are extremely poor and abused by the super richs who just want to be richer.

They do not have the engineers to devellop so instead they just steal.
I remember back in college – in computer science – all the nerdz were copying my programs layout because i was pretty good and imaginative If you look at the video game industry today, its pretty much the same and those companies are not even chinese. People copy.. its in human nature.
Saint Row = Grand theft auto

The fashion industry is no different.

I hope Mercedes will win because i don’t want my car to be associated with any sort of crappy clone, and i want my smart to stay unique. But on the other hand i find it sad for the poor chinese who just try to survive to buy some food.
JustAnotherPassBy

If you think this way, you’re quite poor in some extent. You mind is not free enough so that you stick to creation/invention not making the life easier and more enjoyable.

Moreover, if the market doesn’t have many equivalent products, it is easier to be monopoly.

We all know that it’s not good to steal but there’re no such global laws (or effective) to limit such actions. To sue a company in another country is not so easy and expensive. So it is just the way.
BigMac

Please, for starters, “… lawyers to bring the Chinese company to its knees: …” is the stupidest statement I have heard all week. Obviously the author of this column has no idea of the Chinese court system. I do. The Germans will meet with no more success than the Americans did with the Chery QQ clone of the Chevrolet Spark. It ended up being dropped to maintain good relations with the Chinese manufacturing interests American companies have in China.

Germany has far deeper automotive roots in China than America ala VW Jetta, Santana, etc. and would be stupid to push it. Besides, these car corporations in China are 51% Common Stock owned by the government.

Law suit? I laugh at the very thought.

Meanwhile, yes there is a real difference between these vehicles beginning with the extra 2 seats and very flexible cargo space in the rear. This vehicle has thicker rotors on the disc brakes (which are front and rear) and has a much more solid roll and side impact cage design than the Smart4Two. Its engine is of different design and is not rear mounted, but set up front. The visibility for the driver is superior in the chinese ‘Noble’ due to increased use of glass and, somehow, an increased frame rating due to the presence of the glass and how it is mounted within the armour cage. Last of all, this is, as some have said, in an entirely different price range and will appeal to a different range of buyers.

Daimler isn’t stupid enought to pursue this very far. Mark my words … it’ll go away soon.