Chinese at it again – Smart ForTwo Clone
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.
When confronted with the issue, China Automobile Deutschland Managing Director Klaus Schlössl argued it wasn't worth getting upset about:
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:
Although Chinese cars have copied Western designs for decades, we have to ask, why would anyone want to copy Smart ForTwo?