It has been a long standing opinion and practice around the globe, but particularly in China, that duplication, adaptation, and down-right replication of designs and other intellectual properties should be expected and considered the sincerest form of flattery. In the 1980’s there was a common saying or belief that the Japanese took the ideas of others and made them better; improved upon them; applied thought and further advanced the technologies of that time. The biggest problem with the Chinese replication of the automobiles of others is that they do not seem to put any thought into it.
The only information provided for what the Beijing Automotive group is calling the B40 (thus the Jeep clone above) is that it has a gasoline fueled engine. Whether it carries the same off-road capabilities as its Trail Rated genetic source is another question.
Beijing Automotive, formerly known as Beijing Jeep, does have a partnership agreement with Chrysler, but the question of how far that partnership goes still lingers. Does their partnership license the replication of the Jeep brand or Wrangler design? With practically zero copyright protection for intellectual property in China there is little that Chrysler is going to do to stop it. Chrysler would more than likely opt to preserve their partnership link to the expanding automotive market that is China than to lose it over some silly copy-cat complaints.
Check out the photo gallery after the leap and see just how adept China has become at breaking out the clone-stamp and serving of a piece of someone else’s pie.
Just last year when the new CEO Bob Nardelli of the company announced that Chrysler was going to hualt the production of the PT Cruiser Convertible, Pacifica and Crossfire and the Dodge Magnum the thought that Chrysler was in trouble sprouted for some. It was obvious to many that the US Auto Industry had fattened in its gluttony and was expected to experience a number of “Jenny Craig” years. Now that Cerebrus has their hands on the dials it has been announced by Jim Press that Cerebrus is ready to turn back the dials on their automotive machine and reign in tighter control.
The name of the plan is Project Genesis and from that comes the New Day campaign. From the onset Chrysler will re-examine internal competition taking place between its three brands: Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler. As Jim Press put it, “Do we need 11 SUVs? Maybe we just need three or four?” The word is that Chrysler will cut their vehicle line-up nearly in half and remove a lot of the red tape that hinders decisions in the process.
Another move anticipated in the Project Genesis plan is to consolidate dealerships that are duplications of the Chrysler brand in the same market. They want Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler housed under the same roof and not spread out into their individual parts. This way when the line-up is reduced they will still have complete coverage for what buyers want, instead say having all their Jeep SUV’s across town from their Chrysler cars. How they are going to manage taking franchise’s away from owners and giving them to other dealers is going to be quite a hurdle, but that is their plan. For Chrysler it is all about the “New Day” that they are looking to begin.
Chrysler showed off their ENVI trio this weekend at Media Weekend at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show with the Jeep Renegade Diesel-Hybrid being the greenest of the bunch. Running on two electric motors fueled from a lithium-ion battery pack the Renegade can run 40 miles on a charge. However, with the assistance of the BLUETEC diesel engine and its added 115-hp (watch-out!) the extended range of the Renegade is 400 miles with a fuel rating of 110-mpg. Ofcourse, this is just a concept vehicle and is not meant to be taken literally. It is merely to show you what Chrysler could do, but is not quite ready to do just yet (ever the optimist).
Chrysler appears to be stepping outside of the boxy reputation and into the Environmental Revolution. For the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michigan Chrysler will be introducing 3 brand new hybrid concepts that are unlike anything they have shown before. Well… the Jeep resembles a prior concept, but what motivates it is completely new for the brand. There will be 3 hybrids from 3 brands from the New Chrysler that is in search of a new image. Let us see how the 3 hybrids stack up in the renderings that have been let loose so far.
