car brands and their model names, this is a private reserve! With each new car, the manufacturer must register its name, get full enjoymentand at will prevent one of its competitors from using it on one of its products. There are many examples in history when some manufacturers were forced to rename one or more of their models. This is a matter for Clio becomes Lutetia in Japan (Honda owns the rights to the Clio there) or Corsa (Toyota) became Vita there. United Kingdom, THE Renault Express was called Extra not to outshine the Peugeot J5/Citroën C25, converted by Talbot locally. There are many examples, and this applies not only to names!

Lawsuits filed for logo infringement

A few years ago, Citroën sued the Polestar manufacturer for the history of the logo. The Volvo group’s premium electric brand does have a double chevron symbol, which Citroën didn’t like. To the point that for several months the Sino-Swedish firm was not allowed to enter the market in France because of this dispute. Finally, Citroën dropped the charges. Last year is Renault’s mobile brand, Mobilize, has been attacked for counterfeiting from… a Chinese manufacturer! The Hiphi brand decided that their two logos were very similar, which was actually less of a problem than Polestar and Citroën, as Hiphi is currently limited to China). Renault was finally released after an appeal. In another context, Audi is friends with premium Chinese electric brand Nio.

And now fake names

Just landed in Europefirst by Norway and now by Germany, Nio are already facing difficulties. Audi sued and won against the Chinese manufacturer for infringement of the name. His two SUVs ES6 and ES8 are really too close to the S6 and S8 names. Sports versions of A6 and A8 sedans! Therefore, the Munich court prohibits Nio from selling these two models in Germany unless it finds another local name for them. The ES7 SUV has already been renamed EL7 in the region (Audi S7 is a sports version of the sedan A7 coupe). A strategy that can be applied to ES6 and ES7. Nio must follow this decision to avoid being affected a fine of more than 250,000 euros. This Audi victory is not final in the first place, Nio appealed the decision. Therefore, a second trial will take place in the coming months…