China’s Chery Automobile Company has filed a formal complaint against Daimler AG over is usage of “EQ” as designation for an upcoming lineup of Mercedes-Benz electric cars. That’s bad news for Benz, as China possesses the world’s largest EV marketplace and Daimler has already begun promoting its future electric lineup using the name.
The German automaker said last year that it would begin producing EQ models in Europe before the end of the decade, with the global sub-brand sold in both eastern and western markets. Unfortunately, Chery already has a fully electric minicar named the eQ that was launched in China in November of 2014. The car is based on the current Chery QQ, which was the centerpiece of a 2005 lawsuit from General Motors following claims that its design was stolen from the Daewoo Matiz and Chevrolet Spark.
A Chery spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday that the automaker has filed a complaint with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and hopes to prohibit Mercedes from using the name in China.
“If it entered the Chinese market, it would impact our trademark rights,” the Chery spokeswoman said. “Mercedes Benz EQ and our [eQ] are extremely similar. Their product is also an electric car.”
Mercedes’ released a written response later that same day stating that Daimler had filed all the applicable trademark applications regarding the EQ name with the relevant authorities — but declined to elaborate further.
China purchases more electric cars than the rest of the world combined, and there are loads of government initiatives for automakers and consumers to shift toward EVs in order to reduce air pollution. While a ruling in favor of Chery might not alter the EQ branding in the west, it would still be a massive hindrance to Mercedes’ marketing efforts in Asia and force it to reevaluate its overall approach.
[Image: Mercedes-Benz]
*The Chinese* suing a foreign company for trademark infringement?! What’s the world coming to…
(By the way, when will GM sue the Chinese automaker in question for ripping off its Chevrolet brand name? “Chery” is very similar to “Chevy”, that’s not likely to be a coincidence.)
Yes, the ironies are many.
M-B should have been more careful, and the result will be a rebranding of the EQ name if M-B wants to sell it there. They’re going to lose this one.
Just wait until the Chery Chervette comes out. Joined shortly by the Chery Mallaboo and the Chery Jolt (with their famous Joltec system no doubt). The Chery Suburbanite will be an amazing SUV, rest assured.
We made love in my Chery van, and that’s alright with me.
Maybe their Bewick entry luxury lineup will not be too far off.
Chery Chevrette , it will drive you crappy!
I have suggestion for M-B. Change it to 4Q. In fact, that might work well globablly.
Is it because ‘4’ in Chinese sounds like ‘death’?
Sǐwáng is death in Chinese. Si is four. I don’t think they sound alike.
4Q would be extremely bad in China. But either way this is a strange lawsuit because I find it weird that Mercedes would have gone ahead with the name if there was already an eQ EV. This would be considered legitimate trademark infringement in every country.
They probably said “what are they gonna do? Sue us? [diabolical laughter]”
Its about time the Chinese auto industry started standing up for themselves instead of letting all those Western automakers steal all their designs, names and styling. Kudos for them. Maybe they can go after Land Rover for stealing their future design and naming their SUVs something very close to the totally original Land Wind name 50 years earlier.
I love land wind, its my favorite kind of wind.
Hostess will sue the Chinese when they come out with their next little model, the Chery Pi.
Their assembly line workers are known as Chery Cobblers.
Ka-chisshhhh
What’s that?
Oh, its a Chery Cola. It has lead instead of sweetener. Its a DIEt thing. Wanna try? Careful how you grab the can. It crushes really easy. Its from the Koca-Cola company.
Where’d you get it?
Got it at Wally-World, where else? $1.48/case. Outstanding value. Damn, I feel dizzy. Think I better….(clump).
You aight dude? Dude? Can I have one of your Chery Colas? Hey! Well if you’re just going to lay there, geeze, how rude.
The auto show models are known as Chery Tarts.
Their quality control guys are known as Chery Pickers.
(Okay, okay, I’ll stop now.)
“I put a Chery on top. Boo-ya!”
-Jackie Brown
A Chinese painter was arrested and hauled in front of the Party authorities to explain a painting that he had made. It was of a smoking volcano, whose crater was filled with heaps of cheap Chinese cars.
“Why is your disrespectful painting titled ‘Life’?” demanded the interrogator.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” explained the painter. “It’s just a huge bowl of Cherys!”
The Chery auto show concept for a crossover for those 55 and older with standard heated seats is the Chery Pop Tart.
This coming from the company that made a blatant duplicate of the Daewoo Matiz and sold it as the QQ. When it went to court, Chery denied that they had copied anything – even though they were exactly the same size, looked alike, and some of the body parts were actually interchangeable.
Their in-house crash-testing process is dubbed, “Chery Turn-Over”.
Must. Not. Read. Comments. While. Drinking. Coffee.
While all of these were highly entertaining, yours was the only that made me choke on my water.