Germany is the birthplace of modern cars and one of the countries with the oldest history of automobiles. From the invention of the first car by Karl Benz to the present, Germany has firmly grasped the central position of the automotive industry kingdom, which is why car companies from all over the world want to enter the German market to prove themselves.
Recently, as one of the most influential newspapers in Germany, Le Monde wrote an article specifically for Chinese cars. They said that the Chinese car companies that had been in the sand in the German market are now back and have learned from the mistakes of the past, and that in 2022 the German market will welcome Chinese brand cars that have already entered Europe.
The Chinese brands referred to by Le Monde are mainly aimed at car companies that shine in the new energy track, especially in Weilai, Xiaopeng, BYD and so on, which have landed in Norway. However, at the beginning of this century, China has a number of export booms in Germany, but they have not been able to gain a foothold in Germany, so what happened to the former domestic brands in Germany?
Double ring car
Double ring car in early 2007 officially announced into the German market, and brought the "CEO" off-road vehicle and ring small noble (Nobel), these two cars once listed caused a shock in the German market, mainly the appearance of BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz Smart is too similar, and the price is only about 2000 euros, these two cheap "resemblance car" was spurned by the whole of Germany.
At that time, the German market quickly set off a "plagiarism door" boom against shuanghuan cars, and the cover article of the media "Der Spiegel" weekly directly insulted China as a "country of thieves" and Shuanghuan motors as "blatant thieves". BMW and Daimler-Benz have also publicly stated that if Shuanghuan Shows its "plagiarized" version of its model at any international auto show, they will take legal measures to protect their intellectual property rights.
The incident even attracted the attention of the German chancellor at the time, who in August of that year continued to protest to the country: "Now there is a sudden appearance of a car that resembles 'Smart', which is very bad if it is illegal plagiarism", "This behavior is not only very important to the foreign companies involved, but also damages the originality of Chinese cars."
In September 2007, on the eve of the opening of the Frankfurt International Motor Show, BMW finally couldn't bear to take the double ring car to court, and the CEO sample car exhibited at the auto show was once again regarded as a "plagiarism model" by the German media. This lawsuit has been going on for a long time, and Shuanghuan finally lost the lawsuit, which was also the first time that the independent brand took the "imitation road" that year, and the German export road was blocked. Subsequently, in 13 years, the passenger car production qualification of the double ring car was cancelled in China, and the double ring car of Mercedes-Benz and BMW chicken dog finally came to an end.
Jiangling Land Wind / Brilliance Zunchi
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2005, a car made by a Chinese car company stood on the booth, that is, Jiangling Land wind. As soon as the land wind landed in Europe, it came up with a new off-road vehicle with a very good price, the price was only 15295 euros, and it still set off a relatively large storm in the German market, when the first batch of cars had sold more than three hundred units before landing, which was actually a very good result.
But just after the end of the auto show, the German Automobile Club (ADAC), a well-known German non-governmental organization, suddenly issued a report on the collision of jiangling landwind cars, in which the entire body of the car was completely scattered after the land wind collision, the center console directly impacted the front row of personnel, all the dummies in the car died, and ADAC gave 0 points, which was the first time in their twenty-year history to evaluate zero points.
Jiangling quickly questioned the professionalism of ADAC, arguing that they did not notify the manufacturer before the test, and did not inform the brand of the relevant detailed data after the test. But ADAC is also very tough, calling itself a non-governmental organization, the test vehicle is purchased directly from the market, it is said that it was the first land wind bought at that time, the test process is open and transparent.
The inaccurate steering system, no ESP, no ABS, ultra-long braking distance, and high fuel consumption of 11,6L per 100 kilometers have made the land wind quickly defeat in Germany and even Europe, and it has also withdrawn from the mainstream market in China.
Brilliance Zunchi also suffered the same thing in 2007, and was given a one-star low score by ADC. But unlike the passive review of Lufeng, Brilliance Zunchi is actively sent for inspection, but the results are not satisfactory, although Brilliance said that it will rectify the new model, but failed to touch german consumers, and finally withdrew from foreign markets.
Since the 05-07 batch of trends has passed, independent brands seem to have begun to understand that it was not self-sufficient to rush to export to Germany at that time. For more than a decade, domestic cars have been constantly improving themselves, and in 2021, there are signs of re-entering the German market, hoping that new brands can learn the lessons of "predecessors" and stop letting their own brands become a joke among outsiders.