Ssangyong Motor, GM Daewoo Not Pursuing Legal Action Due to Red
Tape
Korea Times
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Chinese carmakers are suspected of copying Korean car designs
without permission.
SG Automotive Groups Aurora is almost impossible to tell apart
from Ssangyong Motors Rexton, while Chery Automobiles QQ and GM
Daewoos Matiz look like twins.
Avante, Terracan and Santa Fe of Hyundai Motor are also targets for
Chinese copycats.
A Ssangyong Motor spokesman said that with Chinese companies,
imitation is an habitual practice, adding, ``They are also
producing fake models of Toyota and Honda.
Since June 2005, SG Automotive Group has been selling Aurora at a
cheaper price than Rexton, a premium sport utility vehicle, which
debuted in Korea in 2001. The designs are very similar. But the
Auroras structure of auto parts is totally different from that of
Rexton, the spokesman said. It seems that the company is a
highly-skilled modelling firm, rather than a carmaker.
He said several Chinese molding companies are frequently changing
their replication targets after selling a copied model for one or
two years at a bargain. But Ssangyong Motor chose not to take legal
action against SG Automotive, citing Chinas lawsuit system which
is favorable to their companies.
The Korean company only informed its largest shareholder, Shanghai
Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), of the copycatting last
year.
There has been no statement from SAIC about whether or not it
issued a warning to SG Automotive.
Last November, GM Daewoo withdrew its lawsuit against Chery
Automobile for copying its popular small-car model Matiz. The two
sides have been in a dispute for a year since Chery Automobile was
found to have copied designs and technologies used for the Matiz, a
GM Daewoo compact car model.
The third-largest automaker of Korea filed a lawsuit against the
Chinese firm at a Chinese court in 2004.
GM Daewoo also alleged it found the vast majority of parts in the
Matiz and QQ were interchangeable, although Matiz technology had
never been sold or licensed to Chery through authorized
channels.
