On July 2 1 day, Chery QQ, which has been on the market for nearly two months and the price is only 49,800 yuan, is selling well all over the country, while SAIC-GM-Wuling and GM-China jointly held the activity of "Interpreting Chevrolet SPARK R&D" in Shanghai, aiming to tell consumers that automobile R&D is a costly, long and complicated systematic project, and there are very likely to be seven hidden dangers in cars manufactured only by imitation.
At present, it will take time for Chevrolet SPARK to go public. It is self-evident that GM holds such an event at this time. Chevrolet SPARK and Chery QQ are too "similar" and Chery QQ took the lead, which forced GM to fully prove Chevrolet SPARK's "regular lineage" from the perspective of research and development.
Jie Zheng, director of GM's public relations department, said that since the Shanghai Auto Show, we have learned that Chery QQ is similar to Chevrolet SPARK in appearance design, and GM has always attached great importance to intellectual property rights, but this is not just a matter of intellectual property rights. If we look at the overall situation of China's automobile industry, it may affect China's overall investment environment for foreign investment. It is related to the relationship between fairness and interests, and it is also necessary to change the concept that joint ventures in China should have a new concept regardless of internal and external companies.
The event originated from the Shanghai Auto Show.
During the Shanghai Auto Show, some media reported that Chery QQ didn't meet at the Shanghai Auto Show because it was suspected of copying Chevrolet SPARK. But at that time, many reporters saw from the promotional materials of Chery QQ that the appearance of Chery QQ and Chevrolet SPARK was very close, although the front face design of the two was very different. Except for the similar design of headlights, the layout of fog lamps and the design of hood are different. But from the side, the two cars are very similar, and the details such as rearview mirrors and side windows are exactly the same.
More interestingly, they are not only similar in appearance, but also similar in propaganda. In 2002, SPARK's predecessor MATIZ won the title of "the most beautiful car in the world", and QQ seems to be not inferior, saying that Chery QQ is known as "the coolest car in the world". From this perspective, it is absolutely impossible for the two to be unrelated.
However, Chery executives once told the media that Chery QQ failed to participate in the exhibition as scheduled because of insufficient production preparation rather than "running away from cold feet", and said that Chery QQ is a small car with international standards, which was carefully built by Chery Automobile Engineering Research Institute with reference to international experience in research and development of small cars. Its characteristics are distinct. Chery has 24 patents recognized by the state, including the shape of the whole vehicle, and has complete intellectual property rights, so there is no infringement problem.
Give "lessons" to China cars
Jason, director of the interior department of Pan-Asia Automotive Technology Center, talked to the media reporters about the complexity of automotive R&D at the "Interpretation of Chevrolet SPARK R&D" conference. He said: "car design is not just as simple as assembling hundreds of parts together. Modern design concepts require cars to achieve a harmonious balance in terms of safety, reliability and weight. "
From the development process of vehicle manufacturing, it generally takes 40 months from market research and development to product release, and there are *** 15 important steps. Li, the development director of GM Daewoo M 150 (now Spark), took MATIZ as an example, and listed that the development cycle of MATIZ from the first generation to the second generation was ***5 1 month, the development cost of the whole vehicle was nearly 200 million dollars, and the research and development cost of MATIZ engine was hundreds of millions of dollars.
On the other hand, since the establishment of 1997, Chery automobile has become a dark horse in China with the rapid growth of China automobile. However, in terms of automobile research and development, neither capital investment nor technology can be compared with the multinational automobile giant General Motors. Chery QQ, founded on 200 1, went public after only two years of "independent research and development", which surprised people in general motors and the automobile industry.
Jason said that nonstandard vehicle manufacturing technology may lead to seven major problems: poor handling performance; Parts fade under exposure; Parts do not support vehicle performance; At extreme temperature, the material properties can not meet the standard; Vehicle performance is not optimized; The corrosion resistance of car body and parts is not enough; Security is not optimized.
The standard vehicle manufacturing technology will fully consider the local specific conditions, carefully design and conceive the vehicle structure, and ensure the coordination of all parts.
How to settle the dispute?
I believe that the debate between Chevrolet SPARK and Chery QQ will continue, but the current situation is that Chery QQ has taken the lead in entering the market and attracted many potential customers of mini-cars at a price of 49,800 yuan. At present, the price is still the killer in the mini-car market, but compared with Chery QQ, SPARK is already at a disadvantage. Chevrolet SPARK assembled with all imported parts absolutely has no price advantage. In this regard, Cao Zhigang, deputy general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling, said: "I hope that through this activity, I can tell you that Chevrolet SPARK is a premium mini-car, and I also hope that more ordinary consumers can understand the internal relationship between R&D standards and consumption cost through the media and have a wise and mature judgment on product cost performance."
Although GM's public relations department claims that the truth is under further investigation, it will be launched in due course. But at present, there is no precedent in the field of vehicle shape infringement in China. Last year, Toyota sued Geely for trademark infringement, which is still pending. If the dispute between Chevrolet SPARK and Chery QQ enters the law, how to finally solve it is unpredictable. However, for foreign investors, they expect the China government to show a clearer attitude and stronger efforts in protecting intellectual property rights after the storm of cracking down on piracy.