Toyota Files European Patents for Yaris Sedan, HiLux, Fortuner and Innova MPV Designs

In a previous post we told that you that China’s Great Wall Motors successfully managed to file a European patent on the design of its Toyota Ractis lookalike, the Feel Free minivan (read about it here). Even though Toyota has no plans of importing its Yaris based MPV to Europe, we’re pretty sure that the Japanese firm’s execs won’t be at all happy with this development.

In our search to find out if Toyota has patented any designs at the European trademark office, we discovered that a few weeks prior to Great Walls Motors’ filing, the Japanese automaker had registered the designs of the Yaris Sedan, HiLux pickup truck, the Fortuner SUV and the Innova MPV. With the exception of the HiLux that is already available in Europe, we seriously doubt that Toyota has any intentions of selling the other models on the Old Continent. -Continued

Which leaves with us a question: did Toyota actually register the design patents because they new something was up and if yes, why didn’t they do the same with other models including the Ractis and especially the Scion range since Great Wall Motors has already created clones of the xA and xB models?

Toyota HiLux


Toyota Yaris Sedan


Toyota Innova MPV


Toyota Fortuner SUV

Unbelievable: China’s Great Wall Motors Patents Toyota Ractis Clone Design in Europe!

Oh the irony; China’s Great Wall Motors whose GWPeri minicar was recently banned from Europe because its appearance was ruled to be too similar to that of the Fiat Panda, has successfully managed to patent the design of the Feel Free minivan at the European Patent Office! Now, the reason that we’re surprised is that Great Wall Motor’s Feel Free minivan that was shown in pre-production form earlier this year at the Beijing Show is essentially a generic copy of the Toyota Ractis, a subcompact minivan that’s based on the Yaris minicar and sold in Japan.

Don’t believe us? Then just check the photo album after the jump. As with the GWPeri, the Chinese automaker’s design team (…) simply made a few alterations to the front and rear end styling of the Ractis and presto; the all new Feel Free (to copy) minivan. We can’t even begin to imagine how awkward the Toyota folks must feel after this development… -Continued

Great Wall Motors Feel Free Patent Designs

Toyota Ractis Minivan

Blind Justice? Chinese Court Dismisses Fiat’s Claims Against Great Wall

Just a week after a Turin court banned Great Wall from importing the GWPeri into Europe on the basis that it closely resembled Fiat's Panda minicar, and a Chinese court in Hong Kong dismissed Fiat’s claims for infringement by the Chinese car maker. Reuters also reported that Fiat was ordered by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court to pay 8,800 yuan or about $1,300 in legal fees. As you can see in these pictures here, apparently justice is blind in China...

China’s Great Wall Banned from Importing Panda Clone to Europe

Following in the footsteps of BMW that managed to stop the Chinese Shuanghuan CEO SUV from being imported into Germany, Fiat has won a court order against China’s auto manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) banning the latter from bringing the GWPeri to Europe. The Italian carmaker had sued GWM both in Italy and China. In the case of the Turin court, it was ruled that the GWPeri looked to close for comfort with the Italian carmaker’s Panda minicar –wonder why…

Under the ruling, Great Wall Motors (see the clones here) should pay a €15,000 or $28,000 fine for importing the first example into Europe. If the Chinese carmaker decides to violate the ruling, GWM will be fined a further €50,000 per car brought into the region. Images of both the GWPeri and the Fiat Panda after the jump. -Continued

GWPeri

Fiat Panda

Chrysler Signs MoU with China’s Great Wall (Clone) Motors

Chrysler LLC said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China's Great Wall Motor to explore the viability of a long-term strategic relationship in various areas including distribution networks, components and technology. Neither company provided details about the agreement. Notably, Chrysler has already formed a relationship with another Chinese manufacturer, Chery Automobile for the development, production and distribution of small and sub-compact vehicles.

Now, for those of you wondering why we hailed the Chinese automaker as Great Wall “Clone” Motors in the title, we remind you that Great Wall produces a great number of vehicles that literally copy Japanese and European car designs, including the “GWPERI” Fiat Panda (pictured above) and the Scion-esque Cool Bear and Florid prototypes (pictured right). Hopefully the Chinese copy-maker won’t get any crazy ideas about creating the Challenger “California Dreaming”… -More pics after the jump