Geely Automobile on Friday denied its new top of the line car was a copy of a Rolls-Royce, but the UK-based, BMW-owned luxury brand’s Asia-Pacific chief said it was keeping its options open about taking legal action.
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Geely launched its GE at this week’s Shanghai Auto Show, and the sedan attracted much interest for its resemblance to the Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine. A Geely spokeswoman admitted to AFP Friday that there were some similarities but insisted the GE – for ‘Geely Excellence’ – was an original.
“As it were, they are actually different…. people may feel they are the same at the first glance, but the details are certainly different,” spokeswoman Zhang Xiaoshu told the news agency.
The GE, still a prototype, has some of the Phantom’s signature features, including the grille, sloping rear deck, and even a badge that looks like the Rolls-Royce Flying Lady mascot.
Rolls-Royce said it would not rule out legal action against Geely.
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By GlobalData“We are reviewing all our options for this,” Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific corporations manager Hal Serudin told AFP when asked if the company would take any legal action when the GE hit the market.
“Some people have asked us ‘are we flattered’,” he said, referring to the expression of copying being the sincerest form of flattery. “We are certainly not flattered by this.”
Geely’s Zhang said the GE was set to go on sale within three years, probably for about RMB1m (US$146,400), which could be up to a sixth less than a Phantom depending on Chinese taxes.
With the relatively low cost of the GE, Serudin said it would likely not be a serious competitor to the Phantom.
“Due to the pricing of the car, they will not be targetting the same segment of customers. Our customers certainly would not be looking at that sort of pricing,” he said.
In 2007, Shuanghuan Auto based in northern China drew headlines after it launched vehicles that looked similar to DaimlerChrysler’s Smart Fortwo and BMW’s X5 sports utility.
Another Chinese automaker launched a Mini lookalike at Shanghai, albeit with four instead of two doors and there were reports that could be exported in right hand drive form to Australia.
