Since Dongfeng Renault announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market and abandoned the traditional fuel passenger car business, Renault's business in China has also been focused on two major sectors: new energy and light commercial vehicles. However, in the context of the gradual decline in the performance of the latter market (Renault Brilliance has declined sales for three consecutive years), the new energy sector has become Renault's only "life-saving straw" in the Chinese market.
Renault is indeed full of expectations and ambitions for this. In 2021, its joint venture with Dongfeng and Nissan, EasyJet New Energy, has a total sales volume of 48,000 units in China and an export sales volume of 35,000 units, becoming the first new energy export enterprise in Hubei Province and a leading new energy export enterprise in China (in 2021, Chinese car companies will export a total of 310,000 new energy vehicles).
On February 7, Renault's first model "Yi", another joint venture new energy vehicle company in China, Renault Jiangling, was also officially re-labeled for export to the European market, but the car was not sold to private customers, but only for Renault's travel brand Mobilize.
Before stepping out of the country, Renault JianglingYi has been officially listed in late September 2021, although its presence in the domestic new energy market is weak (the cumulative sales volume in 2021 is only 827 vehicles), but Renault, as a European electric vehicle market giant, has more than 20% of the European electric vehicle market share and more than 30% ownership, and the main small pure electric vehicle ZOE has won the European electric vehicle sales championship for many years.
In the face of the Volkswagen ID. series and Model 3 behind the chase, there is a view in the industry that Renault hopes to gain new voice and market awareness in the European compact electric car market with the help of "Yi".
However, behind the seemingly smooth "travel to Europe" trip is buried a thunder that may explode at any time.
On January 20 this year, Gaohe Automobile Co., Ltd. issued a "Statement on Trademark Protection" (hereinafter referred to as the "Statement"), which initiated an opposition to trademark protection against Renault.
According to the Statement, Renault applied for two figurative trademarks in the European Union and China, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Brazil, Russia and other countries since January 2021, and applied for a vehicle appearance patent containing the Renault icon in China in June 2021, and has used the Renault icon on its official website, auto show and other occasions. Gaohe believes that the icon is similar to the HiPhi icon (Gaohe Automobile LOGO), which brings certain uncertainty to the brand development of Gaohe Automobile and the ongoing Business Expansion Plan in Europe.
The "Yi" model exported to the European market this time uses this icon.
After the "Statement" was issued, it once caused controversy from the outside world, and some people believed that "it is necessary for Gaohe Automobile to launch this trademark blockade war". Lawyer Dai Jiapeng, a partner at Beijing Haotianxinhe Law Firm, told Auto Headline reporters that the two LOGOs may play a role in "reverse confusion".
The LOGO icons of the two companies are not only similar, but also close to the basic composition (both are symmetrical structures composed of a straight line + two semicircles), but the line in the gaohe car icon is vertical, and the new Renault icon is 45° inclined. When two logos are used for optional positions on the body (hub center trim, steering wheel), it is easy for the public to mistakenly believe that they are approximate or related.
From the business level of the two companies, the consumer market facing Gaohe and Renault Jiangling is very different, Gaohe mainly attacks the high-end pure electricity market, and the price of the model is more than 600,000 yuan, while the "Yi" re-label model Mobilize Limo is oriented to the European B-end market, and the relative price will be much lower. This is also the root cause of Gaohe's statement that "it has brought some uncertainty to the ongoing Business Expansion Plan in Europe".
In fact, there are many "similar cases" such as these in the automotive industry, such as Honda and Hyundai, Mazda and Haima, Acura and Chery, etc., strictly speaking, they are all "reverse confused".
On the other hand, there are also views that Gao He's statement is suspected of commercial speculation and rubbing heat. From the perspective of the concept of trademark infringement, trademark infringement usually refers to the use of counterfeit or inferior or unknown trademarks and the promotion of well-known trademarks or similar trademarks, so as to play a role in confusing consumers and fishing in muddy waters in the market. Secondly, because trademarks pay more attention to the area where rights occur and are protected, they have a strong territoriality, even if the trademarks are similar or even identical, they cannot be counted as infringement because the reputation and scope of rights and interests protected are not related.
For example, there is a real estate project called "Baojia Shengjing" in Taiyuan, whose LOGO basically copied the LOGO of Guangdong Science Center, due to the regional nature of real estate, the overall replication of the LOGO has basically no impact on it, and this situation has long been seen in some real estate projects in second- and third-tier cities.
However, Gaohe mentioned in the Statement that since August 2018, the parent company, Huaren Express, has registered and protected hiPhi graphic trademarks in major global markets (including the European Union), and incorporated them into many automotive product designs and applied for global patent layout protection. If Gaohe enters overseas markets such as Europe in the future, the event may develop in a direction favorable to Gaohe.
At present, Renault has used the trademark in the German Auto Show and official website promotion, and In October 2021, Huaren Express has applied to obtain a temporary injunction order from the German court, and Renault German has been required to suspend the use of the Renault icon in Germany. The parties are currently in the midst of routine court hearings, trademark oppositions and cancellation proceedings.
Leaving aside the overseas market, although Renault "bumped face" the Gaohe trademark in China, but there is no preliminary examination result, perhaps this will also force Renault to adjust the use strategy of the new trademark in China.
Of course, in addition to the allegations and serious compensation for infringement in China in the future, in the domestic new energy vehicle market that has long become a red sea, the potential competitors of Renault Jianglingyi have already seized most of the market share, such as BYD Qin PLUS EV, GAC AION S Plus and other competitors have overwhelming advantages in three electric technology, user reputation, after-sales service and other aspects of the long board, and these may be more important than the "LOGO storm".