Rip Off or Compliment?

[G. David Felt]

Posted 02 August 2016 - 12:08 PM

G. David Felt
Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com

 

Rip Off or Compliment?

 

Today MSN Auto asked and posted the following pictures on what people thought about one OEM auto company copying another OEM Auto company. This is very common in China where independent Chinese auto companies pretty much buy and clone every part in a established brand and sell it with no recourse or intellectual protection from the government for the name brands in comparison to markets like Europe and the US.

 

69 Mustang versus 73 Toyota Celica

 

 

Bentley versus Lincoln

 

 

Hummer Versus Dongfeng who still makes this Hummer rip off and sells to the Chinese military.

 

 

Land Rover Versus Landwind

 

 

Rolls Royce versus Geely

 

 

Mercedes-Benz versus Kia

 

 

Porsche versus Nissan

 

 

So what are your thoughts? Should China enforce protecting intellectual property rights, should these companies have to pay for ripping off designs from other companies?

 

How do you feel about it?

[ccap41]

I think it is a slippery slope to try and enforce design cues as their own rights. What constitutes as ripping off a design cue if it isn't the exact slope/pitch/angles/lengths of the "original"?

I see it as a rip off if it is on a vehicle made with plastics everywhere and just poorly executed and a compliment if it is done with class and isn't just a complete mimmick of the original. Like I think the Lincoln in general is more of a compliment to an elegant and simple design. I think the Celica's rear trunk lid screams plastic and therefore cheap.. but taking the relative style wasn't done poorly. Hummer vs Dongfeng.. As long as the Dongfeng is as badass off-road as the Hummer then I see it as a compliment. Land Wind is just a rip off, Geely Ge is also just a blatant rip off. The Kia seems more complimentary as they really only seemed to use the headlights. They did their own thing with the grill, much taller and rounder. Porsche and Nissan... well in that picture it seems more complimentary as well because the Nissan actually looks like the nicer car lol.

[surreal1272]

The Chinese ones (and the Kia Amanti) are obvious rip offs but it is a stretch to say that the Nissan is ripping off the Porsche. Only the profile is similar, nothing else.

[ccap41]

I also don't know how to vote as I'm a mixed back between compliment and rip-off.

[Cory Wolfe]

Seriously, who in their right mind sees any resemblance between the 300ZX and 944? They couldn't be more different, even the profile is far off. The only similarity here is the red paint and the 4 wheels. You've really got to be mindless or blind to throw those in here. Shame on the MSN editor who did so. I ought to revoke your privilege for writing about cars. 

 

Otherwise, I'd say that if it's obvious, its a rip off.  A compliment is... well, the equivalent to a kit car. A compliment is not "Hey, we like your design, so we're going to copy it, mass produce it, and try to steal some of your success" as is the case with many of those Chinese products. In the case of the Continental and the Celica, they're bordering on the line of just being heavily inspired by the original not a complete clear-cut copy. Still shameful for the complete lack of creativity. 

[Stew]

The Celica and the Continental are fine I believe since overall style and setup gives them a different feel, I see no resemblance between the 300Z and 944 except color and pop-up headlights, The kia simply doesn't look like the Mercedes to me except they both have round headlights and chrome grilles.  The Chinese though, WOW!  They have gotten even better at ripping other cars of because before they would look almost identical except the proportions would somehow be off, now they are almost completely mimicking except for very few design details. 

[G. David Felt]

Interesting that we have not seen Cadillac design language being ripped of or copied by the asians. Guess it is too extreme for their taste.

[ccap41]

45 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Interesting that we have not seen Cadillac design language being ripped of or copied by the asians. Guess it is too extreme for their taste.

It appears it is too extreme for most tastes... Personally, I love it.

[Cory Wolfe]

Cadillac design is starting to get stale, in my opinion. The switch to the wreath-less crest brought with it new grills that do nothing to help this problem. The ATS, from the head-on, looks absolutely dopey. The rest of the line-up doesn't suffer from that issue, but as a whole, they're rather staid. The V-cars manage to still stir the soul to some degree, but the overall design hasn't really been fresh. 

With Cadillac's Escala concept, I think they acknowledge that there is a need to at least tweak the design moving forward. 

[G. David Felt]

@ccap41 I agree with you that the current product line for me at least still stirs a desire to own the latest version. Now if I can just pay off my son's and Wife's college bills. So glad they are done, then I can get back to enjoying buying auto's.

@Cory Wolfe I see your valid point, I do think and agree that Cadillac needs to tweak the A&S design language. They still need to keep certain elements in tack like the vertical LED tail lights as well as a few other attributes, but they do need to tweak it here and there.

[Suaviloquent]

The production Lincoln Conti looks nothing at all as a rip off of a Bentley, and I'm amused DFelt why you chose the Concept Conti, when Bentley is the real offender as they were the ones who copied the name.

 

Land Wind is just ridiculous. Land Rover is fighting in Chinese courts to ban that company. However, Land Wind has ties to Geely and SAI.

[balthazar]

One only has to look at generational progression of a given Cadillac model to know that the brand's design language is always moving forward. CT6 is step forward from the CTS, Escala is yet another. Unlike, say, BMW, which hasn't changed a body panel die in 20 years.

[G. David Felt]

45 minutes ago, balthazar said:

One only has to look at generational progression of a given Cadillac model to know that the brand's design language is always moving forward. CT6 is step forward from the CTS, Escala is yet another. Unlike, say, BMW, which hasn't changed a body panel die in 20 years.

So True with BMW and then you have what I consider a cardinal sin. MB with making every model look identical from the cheap A series to the S series, other than size, most cannot tell which is which with that mess.

[balthazar]

^ That's very true and IMO problematic; who wants to spend $125K and come at people looking like you only spent $30K??
That aside, MB does change their language/update over the years. They've had some nice designs, they've had some turkeys. Right now tho, they're beginning to feel dated. Not vs. themselves as much as vs. the competition.