Some time ago, the design dispute between Geely and Chang 'an touched the hearts of countless people who eat melons.
Geely, which just released the Galaxy series, turned around and received a lawyer's letter from Changan, claiming that Geely's "Galaxy Light" prototype copied the design of Changan Automobile.
Geely's reaction is also very quick. The next day, he responded with a statement, rejecting Changan's "throwing dirty water": "The contents of the lawyer's letter are seriously inaccurate", "The accusation against our company is groundless" and "It has caused serious damage to our brand and goodwill"!
Once and for all, there is no follow-up. In response to Geely's rebuttal, Changan did not send a second lawyer's letter, and Geely did not further request a lawsuit because of Changan's "slander".
If you think about it carefully, plagiarism has always been a long-standing problem that is difficult to define, which is understandable. It takes a lot of time and energy to fully understand it, and the cost is too high for either party.
Why don't we each say something malicious, show our attitude and do what we should do next?
A cold knowledge: the lawyer's letter itself has no legal effect, but as an unofficial document, it expresses some views of the parties on the incident. It can also be understood as a threat: if you don't restrain yourself, your boy will be beaten!
The focus of your coming and going has long been seen by discerning people, and the similarity in vehicle design is second. The most important thing is a senior designer, Zheng Chen, who left Chang 'an and joined Geely.
Although he looks very young, he is now the vice president of design of Geely Group, in charge of Geely design business.
He designed "The Light of the Galaxy". At the press conference, he personally stood on the stage to talk about the design concept of the model, which is basically the ceiling of domestic designers.
But before joining Geely in February 2022, Zheng Chen was the ace designer of Changan Automobile.
For example, Chang 'an Yidong, CS75, UNI Gravity series, Deep Blue series and so on are all his design works. It was not until 20021and 65438+February that he left Chang 'an "for family and personal reasons".
So many people speculated that Changan was dissatisfied with being dug by Geely, and then sent a lawyer's letter accusing plagiarism.
So, how important is Zheng Chen to Chang 'an?
After graduating in 2002, Zheng Chen has been working in Chang 'an. From an unknown creative designer, he successively served as deputy general manager and deputy design director, and became the global design director of Changan Automobile.
He positioned himself as a designer who has designed two Wan Li designers in 20 years, learning from the West and integrating the East with the West. He is a designer, from a technical house with a circuit version to a cultural perspective.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zheng Chen is an automobile design talent trained by Chang 'an.
Today, when most independent brands are designed by foreigners, it is extremely rare for Zheng Chen to be the global design director of Changan Automobile Group.
On the one hand, it embodies the spirit of Chang 'an "Whampoa Military Academy for Automobile Industry", on the other hand, it also proves that Zheng Chen's strength is really good.
During the 20-year working career of Changan Automobile, Zheng Chen not only participated in or led a series of vehicle designs, but also made a more important contribution, that is, he trained a group of his own automobile design talents for Changan.
Even after Zheng Chen left, the team was able to continue the previous design style.
Look at Changan Deep Blue SL03, which was listed in July 2022. Are some design elements similar to Geely's "Galaxy Light"?
However, this makes sense. In the president's view, large enterprises like Chang 'an and Geely will definitely formulate corresponding confidentiality policies and non-competition agreements for the flow of executives.
The real "core design materials" and "confidential documents" will never be taken away by the outgoing Chen Zheng.
However, Zheng Chen's personal style or design habit formed over the years can't be completely changed just because he leaves his job.
From this point of view, in the short term, the design similarity between Changan and Geely may really be unavoidable.
Only this similarity will definitely not reproduce the glory of Zotye's "Tape Department".
According to legend, Zotye's design department, with a tape measure in hand, can accurately reproduce many famous models.
With this skill, Zotye has successively launched Zotye SR9 which resembles Porsche Macan, Zotye SR7 which resembles Audi Q3 and Damai X5 which resembles Volkswagen Tiguan.
Even when Zotye went bankrupt some time ago, there was a Porsche Macan…… in the list of assets used to pay off debts ....................................................................................................................................................
In addition to the notorious Zotye "Tape Department", Lu Feng who copied Land Rover (finally awarded compensation 1.5 million), Shuanghuan, who was sued by Honda for being a cottage but successfully counterclaimed, was awarded compensation 1.6 million yuan.
In fact, strictly speaking, domestic independent brands make such plagiarism, which is somewhat out of helplessness.
At that time, China's automobile industry was relatively weak, there was a shortage of automobile design talents, and the brand of domestic cars did not start.
Plagiarism and exaggerated marketing methods have become one of the few ways to attract consumers' attention.
In short, I am not qualified to talk about originality because of my lack of strength.
Zotye is not the only China car company that has plagiarized, and the history of Japanese car industry has not bypassed the road of "reverse R&D".
Toyota AA copied Chrysler's airflow, and Honda N360 "borrowed" the British MINI…… ... ...
But in the past, Toyota and Honda eventually grew into international car companies with rich original strength and developed many classic models designed by themselves.
Nowadays, "learning from the classics" has become a common phenomenon in the automobile circle, and many later classics have achieved success only by standing on the shoulders of predecessors.
But plagiarism is by no means a long-term solution. Without any autonomy, it will only ruin your future path.
Consumers can temporarily joke that "my Ferrari dream depends on Zotye", but today Zotye has not fallen to the last breath.
(Finally, it is said that production will resume in 2022, and there is no news now. )
Fortunately, at the beginning of the century, there were not only Zotye who just wanted to be opportunistic, but also other independent brands with solid foundations.
Only at that time, the primary problem that independent brands need to overcome is not design, but technology and quality.
If the legend of "Wang Chuanfu refueling electrolyte" that opened BYD's new energy myth is regarded as a landmark event of overtaking in China's automobile industry.
Then self-owned brands are generally questioned as "poor quality" and "poor technology", which is a true portrayal of the backwardness of China's automobile industry.
In the workshop of the first batch of Geely Hao Qing cars, every worker had a hammer in his hand. If the parts don't fit in, he will knock them in.
In this way, the hand-made car leaked rain, closed the door and smoked, and even failed the test. In a rage, Li Shufu ordered all the cars to be smashed.
Later, with the technology, the quality began to be acceptable, and finally it was the turn of design to speak, and the independent brand was "beaten" again.
Because the car designed by our own brand is too ugly.
It's not that China consumers like "ugly things", but that beautiful cars can't be made by China car companies.
Any designer can draw a beautiful car design, but to move a car from design to the ground, we need to consider various factors such as material, function and configuration.
How to make this car design without fighting?
This article comes from the electric car commune, the author of the easy car number, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author in any form. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.