Würzburg/Germany, 7 August 2007
Subsequent to the announcement that two Chinese-made sport utility vehicles were going to be launched at the IAA 2007, their Munich-based importer – China Automobile GmbH – reports that there has been a good response. „We are being inundated with enquiries,“ the company’s managing director, Karl Schlössl, revealed in an interview with the German car trade magazine, »Automobil Industrie«. He said that his company had already received 90 applications. „We’ve been having visits from four or five dealers a day who have had a look at our cars,“ Mr. Schlössl went on to say.
He said that what surprised him was the strong interest shown by major car trading groups and multi-name dealers in metropolitan areas. „We had actually expected that business would initially get going above all in non-urban areas,“ Mr. Schlössl explained. He said that there were VW/Audi and BMW dealers among those expressing interest in the cars.
China Automobile GmbH intends to launch both models of car on the German market shortly after the IAA. These are:
– the CEO, made by Shuanghuan, which incorporates design elements from BMW and Toyota and is to be priced at some 25,000 euros
– the UFO, made by Zhejiang Jonway, which is similar to the predecessor of Toyota’s RAV4 model and is to be priced at some 15,000 euros.
There will also be a small car presented at the IAA which is to be priced at some 7,000 euros.
BMW and Toyota are acting cool about the challenges posed by the Chinese. „So far no-one has actually managed to produce a real imitation of a BMW car. That also applies to the CEO which may superficially show formal leanings towards a BMW but actually, however, has a noticeably different design and uses different technology,“ says Rudolf-Andreas Probst, spokesman for BMW. „As a matter of principle, we would take all legal steps available against any imitations of one of our products,“ he adds. One hears, however, from the BMW group that the company is monitoring the market positioning of the CEO very closely.
Toyota has not made any official comments on the UFO. „We do not comment on competitors‘ products,“ was the statement given by a Toyota spokeswoman when questioned by the »Automobil Industrie« magazine.
The president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VDA), Matthias Wissmann, said in an interview with »Automobil Industrie« that it is the affair of the owner of the product’s rights as to whether action is taken against possible plagiarism. He welcomes new exhibitors from China: „The Chinese are important players on the global market and we are very pleased if they use the IAA as a platform. One should, moreover, have respect for the enormous achievements of the Chinese in building up their automobile industry. It is not fair to generalise just because of one botched crash test.“ Mr. Wissmann is referring here to the Brilliance BS6 limousine which failed its crash test with the ADAC (the German automobile club).
Karl Schlössl of China Automobile GmbH does not fear that there will be any difficulties regarding alleged plagiarism. „There are already 600 CEO’s out on the roads in Italy without any objections having been raised, and Toyota was informed of the UFO model well in advance.“
The Chinese cars are far cheaper than their established role models. Shuanghuan’s CEO will be priced at some 25,000 euros, whereas the price range for the BMW X3 model starts at 34,600 euros. The gap is even greater in the case of Toyota: whereas Zhejiang Jonway’s UFO will only cost about 15,000 euros, a car buyer would have to pay at least 26,370 euros for a RAV4.
»Automobil Industrie« published an exclusive report two weeks ago on China Automobile GmbH’s imminent market launch.
If the above facts are re-published, please name »Automobil Industrie« as the source when doing so.
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