Auto Design

In the past days, the Turin Court has ruled hat the Great Wall Peri looks like a Fiat Panda with a different front end and consequently cannot be sold in Europe. Or, to be accurate it can, at a very high cost for those who produce, import and sell it. The claim was presented by Fiat, the maker of the Panda designed for them by Stile Bertone. I do not know who has actually produced the blueprints for the Peri but I remember hearing – some years ago – to some top Italian car design and engineering consultants that some Chinese company entering the car industry used to candidly ask them to just copy an existing (and potentially successful) car and help them setting up the production lines. Obviously some of these consultants have accepted when they should have not accepted. Sure, just duplicating an existing project saves a lot of time, some money and all the risks related to experimenting with something news. Read the rest of this entry »