When there are disputes in court, pitting car manufacturers from the Old Continent against their Chinese competitors, more often than not, a stylistic sticker is at stake, as it is not uncommon for Chinese car manufacturers to be lavish in copying the design of iconic or commercially successful European models. It happened, for example, with the Evoque, the Range Rover, the Beetle and the Mercedes GLA. However, that was not the reason that led Audi to file a lawsuit against Nio. The problem this time is the commercial designation of two models by the Chinese manufacturer that is ready to land squarely in Europe.
In the second half of 2021, Nio began selling in Norway and is committed to establishing itself in Scandinavian countries, expanding its presence to Sweden and Denmark, but the Chinese manufacturer does not intend to stay there. It has, of course, the largest European markets under its gaze, so Germany is an inescapable destination in this Chinese “conquest” of European territory. And so much so that, just to lay the foundations, Nio chose the city of Munich to host the European operation. Now, it was precisely in a Munich court where Audi filed a lawsuit against Nioarguing that the designations ES6 and ES8 infringe the trademarks registered by the house of Ingolstadt, namely the sports versions of the Audi A6 and Audi A8, which have long been on the roads as S6 and S8, respectively.
Audi S8
It so happens that the S6 and S8 variants are sports saloons powered by a combustion engine, while Nio’s ES6 and ES8 are SUVs, with different widths, but both exclusively electric. I mean, when it comes to body and engine, there is no room for confusion. In the opinion of an expert quoted by Handelsblatt, the German newspaper that broke the news, “the probability of confusing an SUV with a sedan is quite low.” But if that is the opinion of Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, professor at the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, it may be that the judge’s deliberation is different, because what is at stake is not the appearance but the denomination. It remains to be seen whether the judicial resolution of this dispute will occur before Nio enters Germany.which is expected to happen in the last quarter of this year.
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While Audi is hoping to enforce an alleged property infringement, Nio has been forced to deal with this eventual setback in its commercial offensive. Cautiously, he chooses to continue showing the ES8, but without the designation. This six or seven-seater SUV that is positioned as a competitor to the Tesla Model X is, at the moment, the flagship of the Chinese manufacturer. And it was precisely the model with which Nio started sales in Norway. For Germany, the commercial debut should be the ET7, an electric sedan whose name in no way offends Audi’s nominal interests… But sales in the segment premiumfrom the BMW 5 Series to the Mercedes E-Class and EQE, passing through the Audi A6, they may suffer a turnaround in their domestic market, since the ET7 does not lack arguments to disturb the competition.
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It should be remembered that Nio, in addition to having a stand concept that is different from that of conventional manufacturers, the Nio Houses, stands out for allowing the change batteries in minutes at the stations themselves, thus eliminating the waiting time associated with accumulator recharging. At the moment no plans have been detailed in this regard for the German market, where sales are expected to initially focus on Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
Source: Observadora
