Chang'an made trouble for Geely and lost the situation just to vent its anger.

? Less than a week has passed since Geely’s high-profile Galaxy series launch, and a friend came to ask for trouble. Changan sent a lawyer’s letter through a law firm, claiming that Geely’s “Galaxy” The "Light" prototype car has a lot of similarities with Changan Automobile's concept car and mass-produced models, and is suspected of infringing Changan Automobile's intellectual property rights. The full text is as follows:

Geely responded quickly. The general content is that Galaxy Light is a product fully developed and designed by Geely, and there is no plagiarism or infringement of other people's intellectual property rights. The full text is as follows:

After reading this, Mr. Ru Ru was confused. I wanted to laugh it off, but after asking a few designer friends around me, I felt it was still necessary to explore this incident. The nature of the event. After all, these days, people always talk about "lawyer's letter warnings". I don't think this is a good trend, and of course it's not limited to the automotive industry.

Is it similar?

First and most important, does Geely’s Galaxy Light look like a certain car from Changan? I don't think so. We mentioned in Galaxy's push a few days ago that Galaxy Light would be quite stunning if it were a mass-produced car, but if it was just a concept car, it would not be eye-catching. We have also mentioned that at this stage, the mass-produced products of the Galaxy series are still very limited in using the design elements of the Galaxy Light. The Galaxy L7 and Galaxy Light are not only different in spirit, but also have very limited similarities in appearance.

▲Galaxy Light

▲Dark Blue 03

Because Galaxy Light is a sleek style car, although the shape of the light group and some areas of the bumper It's quite sharp. Changan probably thinks that the shape of the Galaxy Light's light group and part of the bumper is somewhat similar to their dark blue 03, and the Galaxy Light's "borderless" air intake grille design method has borrowed from some Changan models. design.

▲Changan UNI-V

However, in terms of the overall body shape, it can be said that the Galaxy Light has no similarity with any Changan model, because Changan's Models have recently adopted a relatively angular design style, except for the Lumin.

▲In addition to the sharper lights, the body shape of Galaxy Light is also rounded

If you really want to say that the details and shapes are indeed similar, then we can Let’s talk about it carefully.

The first is the headlight set. The direction of the headlight lines of the Galaxy Light is indeed similar to that of Changan Deep Blue 03 and other models, but there are actually many models using this design style. The specific styling details It is completely different. I even think that the light strip of Galaxy Light is more similar to Lotus ELETRE. However, Lotus is originally owned by Geely. Even if it is really "similar", Lotus will not sue Geely for plagiarism. of.

The second is the shape of the bumper area. Again, they are similar in general shape, but are they similar? There are many models with similar designs, and Changan is definitely not the first manufacturer to adopt this design.

▲Do you think the design of the lower bumper of this Audi Q3 is similar to that of Changan Deep Blue 03 and UNI-V?

There is also the "borderless" air intake grille. To be honest, although this design technique is widely used in current Changan models, it is not Changan's patent. What's more, Geely's Galaxy Light does not have a real air intake grille, it just uses lights to simulate the effect of the air intake grille.

▲Another representative of the "borderless" China Net

In fact, these similarities in styling and design are widespread in the automotive industry. Recent examples include Xpeng G9 and Ideal L7/L8/L9, which also use through-type light strips. Many people say that they look similar, but I don’t think they look alike at all. The light strips themselves have different details. , coupled with the design and processing techniques of other areas, there is a big difference between the two brands.

After Mercedes-Benz pioneered the "dual screen" on the W222-generation S-Class, a large number of products from other brands (especially independent brands) adopted similar designs. Therefore, similar design elements are not entirely the basis for judging plagiarism.

We were saying a few days ago that the rear end of Geely’s Galaxy Light is like installing the taillights of a Porsche 911 on the butt of an AMG GT. Unexpectedly, it’s not Porsche that is suing Geely, but It's Chang'an.

If this is also called plagiarism, then it is like catching a thief

Anyway, we don’t think that Galaxy Light has plagiarized Changan at all. What is plagiarism? "Boss" is, "Landwind Evoque" is, it must be admitted that early Chinese cars have more or less traces of plagiarism, but today, everyone has long known that plagiarism will not work, let alone Is it one of the top domestic manufacturers like Geely? It would be very interesting if Changan thought this was also called plagiarism.

We have always believed that Changan's models do have good performance in design. Their early Yuexiang V7, Ruicheng CC and other products were relatively outstanding in design in the same price range at the same time. that. But this does not mean that Changan has no "negative news" in terms of design. Take the Ruicheng CC as an example. The interior of this car can easily remind you of BMW. We actually think this is not plagiarism, at most. Consider it a reference.

The Eado XT is also a relatively outstanding-looking car in Changan's product line, but its body design style and even the "XT" naming are quite similar to the Buick Hideo XT, but we also I don't think this is plagiarism either.

When it comes to Changan's new energy "new force" Deep Blue 03, we actually think that this car is very original. If you want to say which car it has copied, there is definitely no one. But sometimes from certain angles, you will feel that the Dark Blue 03 has a bit of a Tesla Model 3, especially the front of the car, which is not similar in appearance or spirit.

Did BMW not send a lawyer’s letter to Changan? Did Buick send a lawyer's letter to Changan? Even though Tesla loves to issue legal letters, they did not send any legal letters to Changan!

Another attempt to gain popularity?

To sum up, even if Changan does take Geely to court, there is a high probability that it will not win. Their move seems to be more likely to attract publicity. The act of trying to gain popularity is, in theory, a form of media gossip, or even a negative act.

But these days, gaining popularity seems to have become one of the main businesses of various automobile manufacturers. On "that night", I saw countless car brands swarming in and sending out "blessings" to their friends and business colleagues, but the core content was still to enhance their own sense of existence.

After all, "Looking Up" and "Yinhe" are the "heads" of the industry. For other brands that are relatively less loud, this is a good opportunity to increase their exposure, and they can more or less It shows that they are "reputable" in the industry, and even people who don't know the truth will think that they are "on the same level" as BYD and Geely. It's just that these copywritings, to be honest, are quite clever except for a few, but it would be better not to publish the others.

Could Changan’s approach this time be an attempt to make consumers more aware of the design highlights of their products? The subtext is probably: "Look, the appearance of our mass-produced cars is no different from theirs." As high as a concept car."

But based on our basic judgment that "Galaxy Light is not like any one or several Changan products", the popularity can be said to be very low. Is there another secret behind this matter?

Key figures are key

At Geely’s Galaxy series launch conference, there was a very special link. After the Galaxy Light came onto the stage, the designer spent a full ten minutes explaining it. The design concept of Galaxy Light is rare in domestic brand launch conferences. And the name of this designer is: Chen Zheng. He is currently also the Vice President of Geely Group.

What is even more intriguing is his past experience. Not that long ago, he was the head of design at Changan Automobile. As of his departure from Changan Automobile, Chen Zheng's job description is: Global Design Director, Chief Brand Operations Officer of Changan Automobile Group, Chairman of Changan European Design Center, General Manager of Changan Automobile Brand Public Relations Department, and Spokesperson.

Many of Changan's star models are produced by him, such as the Yuexiang V7 mentioned just now, as well as best-selling models such as CS35 and CS75, as well as the new UNI series. It can be said that the high design achievements of Changan's past models are inseparable from Chen Zheng, and he left Changan Automobile in December 2021, claiming to temporarily leave the industry he loved deeply due to personal and family reasons. However, in In March 2022, he joined Geely.

This also explains why Geely's Galaxy Light is similar to Changan's models in some detailed design techniques. This is inseparable from the designer's personal style and habits.

“I removed most of the style from when I was working in Changan, but I retained a part of it. I think I retained some of my personal design habits, and only then did I know that this was a car designed by me.”

"Is it intentional or accidental?"

"It's intentional." ——The Light of the Nine-turn Galaxy (purely fictional)