The Chinese car maker has been given the green light by the Chinese government to build the Florid model which is a rip-off of the Toyota IST/scion xA model.
The Chinese car maker had unveiled a series of small cars eighteen moths ago whose particular trait was to be a faithful copy of European and Japanese models. Without the least hint of embarrassment, Great Wall executives declared the cars were their own creation, but even the Chinese government didn’t believe it and ordered the car maker to suspend the project as the government didn’t want to be sued for infringement of patent. But at the latest congress, one decided that business was a priority and Great Wall can release its Florid Model.
Due to go on sale from May this year, the Florid will be powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine or a 1.2-litre diesel engine. The diesel engine comes as a surprise. Indeed, diesel engines are not common in China, but Great Wall has the ambitious plan to export the model to Europe. The car would be sold in Italy first and in the rest of Europe in 2009.
The Chines company is currently being sued by Fiat in China and in Europe over the design of the Peri model which is a rip-off of the current Panda. What will be the Toyota’s reaction? This is not the first time a Toyota is copied by a Chinese car maker. Indeed, Jonway cloned the RAV4 to build the UFO model. Unfortunately, Toyota did nothing because it didn’t patent the design.
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