Continental Great Wall Motors has been exposed to a plagiarism scandal. a Great Wall electric car at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show has been widely questioned as a copy of the German Volkswagen Beetle, sparking controversy. VW has announced that it will investigate the matter and reserves the right to take legal action.
U.S. auto site Carscoops reported that the Punk Cat, a Continental Great Wall Motor Co.’s (Great Wall Motor) vehicle, was the center of attention at the April 21-28 Shanghai Auto Show, with its exterior and interior highly similar to the first-generation Volkswagen Beetle.
According to the comparison chart, the curved hood line, round headlight cluster, curvature of wheel arches, bumpers, steering wheel and many other aspects of the Punk Cat are almost identical to the Volkswagen Beetle.
Great Wall Motor’s Punk Cat brand electric car was accused of copying the first generation of Volkswagen Beetle brand in Germany. The Beetle is shown on the left and the Punk Cat is shown on the right. (Screenshot from Weibo)
In the publicity of the mainland media, the “retro net car Ola Punk Cat: a retro tribute to an era” describes the Ola Punk Cat, saying, “In terms of appearance, the Punk Cat adopts a classic retro-newism design aesthetic, with a romantic and elegant overall shape. Fashionable two-color body design, wide-body front and rear wings, dynamic double six-spoke wheels, retro round tail lights, and floating roof curves ……”
In response to the suspected copying of the Punk Cat brand, VW Germany has told the media, “In response to any infringement of VW’s patents, we will investigate and reserve the right to take necessary legal action.”
It is reported that although the VW Beetle has officially ceased production in 2019, the design copyright still belongs to the VW Group.
Meanwhile, the VW Group will relaunch the Beetle brand in the form of an electric vehicle. at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, VW showed an electric version of the Beetle, utilizing the e-up electric drive system to become the new e-Beetle, and registered a trademark for the e-Beetle name in 2020.
The Ora Punk Cat, which has been challenged for plagiarism, is also an electric car, and its launch will be controversial, with Great Wall Motors likely to face legal action.
In addition to the Ola Punk Cat, the Tank 800 and Ola Speed Cat exhibited by Great Wall Motor at the Shanghai Auto Show have also been accused of plagiarism.
A comparison chart posted on the Zhihu website shows that the shape of the Ola Lightning Cat is highly similar to the German Porsche 989, while the shape of the Tank 800 is highly similar to the British brand Rolls-Royce Cullinan, and the Weibo message directly refers to the Tank 800 as the “Chinese version of Cullinan”.
It is not uncommon for mainland car companies to copy international brands. According to Taiwan’s ETToday news cloud website, for example, Landwind X7 and Land Rover (Range Rover Evoque), Beijing BJ80C and Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Benz G-class4×4), Geely and Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce Phantom), Dongfeng-EQ2050 and Hummer H1 etc. Many of them have a high degree of similarity.
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