Have any of you ever browsed the showroom of BYD autos, the chinese car manufacturer?
A lot of there cars have a surprising resemblance to European motors.
F0 - Aygo exterior, elements of a YARIS interior
F3 - Corolla interior
F6 - Honda accord interior
S8 - Mercedes SL
E6 - Civic / CRV interior
Are these designs produced under licence?
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I hope they are produced under licence. Although I find these Chinese copies fascinating, particularly because they often appear as two other cars fused together.
The F0 is astonishingly similar to an Aygo, with the same doors, bumpers and even mirrors and an interior that combines elemets of both the Aygo and Yaris, right down to the Ago stereo and door trims.
The F3 looks like a US market Toyota Corolla saloon, both inside and out, while the F3-X has a Corolla interior but the outside looks like a Chevrolet Lacetti.
The F6 looks like a US market Honda Accord, while the S8 looks like a Renault Megane CC with Merc headlights.
Surely BYD will face legal action from these manufacturers if not producing under licence.
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Also check out Great Wall Motors, i like the Hover TT
Finally something to annoy Range Rover drivers with :-)
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The Japanese started producing cars, cameras, hi-fi etc in such fashion several decades ago, but very quickly got the R and D together to produce far superior innovative products in the long run.
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The difference being that the Japanese (and Koreans for that matter) for the most part did licence technology, designs etc from Western companies.
They were all very large, established organizations in their own right and tended to do things properly.
And of course what a lot of people seem to forget is that the Japanese electronics companies were already significantly ahead of the Europeans by the time they were sold here in any numbers -- a late 60s Sony or Sanyo television is light-years ahead of a contemporary Pye or Ferguson.
The Chinese companies however are small in the main -- it's a different culture, and the companies tend to be regional concerns rather than the huge behemoths in Japan and Korea.
These smaller companies don't have the budgets, and are more likely to ignore established norms on respecting copyright etc. We don't have a car equivalent of Haier in the white goods market yet to make any real progress.
I think it's a mistake to assume that the Chinese will follow the same path as Datsun and Hyundai -- they have a long way to go yet before they have companies that have the financial muscle to catch up with the rapidity of Hyundai for example.
That's not to say they don't have the talent, but there is no way they are going to be able to compete with twenty small manufacturers.
Edited by primeradriver on 05/02/2010 at 00:34
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Have a look at the crash tests of chinese-designed cars on Youtube. Frightening stuff.
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I don't think these deign resemblances are new or confined to the Chinese.
Does anyone remember the VW Golf Mk 1 and the Talbot Horizon? One is generally acknowledged to have been a much better car than the other but they did look remarkably similar apart from the front grilles.
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If these companies did grow to any size then I am sure the main motor industry will do their best to close them down due to copyright theft.
The chineese seem to be masters as make a car look half decent but underneath its decades behind what they are doing in Europe/Japan/Korea. I wonder if they have British Leyland management?
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...but underneath its decades behind what they are doing in Europe/Japan/Korea. I wonder if they have British Leyland management?...
Nothing much wrong with BL cars 'underneath' in engineering terms.
Weak management allowed the workforce to throw them together.
Seems to me the reverse might be the case in China, rubbish designs but reasonably well put together.
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