GateCrasher

this

tarheel91

Considering they're both societies originally founded on Confucian beliefs, I find it hard to accept that argument as a reason why one would innovate and the other couldn't. I think the real difference is that the adoption of Western beliefs and values by the younger generations is happening much faster in South Korea than in China.

Not Sure

Innovation comes from research and developement, not cutting and pasting.

Those "reverse engineered" copies don't have the technology built into them like the originals do. Everything the Chinese make copies of only look like the originals on the outside - on inside they are held together with glue and paper clips. 5 years from now the Chinese will still be making cheap copies of foreign cars, because they didn't learn how to do R/D on their own.

565565

Sadly, probably this year or maybe next year are the last few chances where these hilarious copycat cars will be found.

I was on the R&T site and they had an article about how in the past, these Chinese autoshows were full of nothing but these copy cat cars, and how now only a handful of these laughing stocks exist in this most recent show.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/auto-shows/bei...ijing-knockoffs

"the fact that we’ve included them here points to what is perhaps the beginning of the end for the Chinese Copycat era. China has clearly made significant strides in building cars that are attractive and original, and when we walk the aisles of the next major car show in China, those strange Copycat cars will be harder than ever to find."

Anyway the reason why China doesn't bother enforcing IP laws isn't hard to explain at all. It is because currently their industries don't innovate very much. So really why would there be strong IP enforcement when their is hardly any of their own IP to protect?

When Chinese companies starts getting their hands on technologies worth protecting (making it, or buying it from other companies, AKA Volvo), you can be sure the government will start cracking down on IP protection.

China isn't the first industrializing nation to have the copy fever either. Did you know that the first "Made In ____" labels were "Made in Germany"? It was mandated by the British Government in the Merchandise Marks Act of 1887 to distinguish real British made goods from similar looking cheap German knockoffs. At the time the Germans were just starting to really industrialize, and built their economy off making cheap ripoffs of British products. America actually went through a similar period where our industries were basically built off stealing technology from the British.

One interesting example I remember was how America merchants would buy Charles Dickens novels off the streets of London, and start printing bootlegged copies on the boat ride over to the US. By the time the ship hit shore in NYC, there would be hundreds of copies of bootlegged Dickens' novels ready to sell, and Dickens' didn't see a dime.

In the end, once these nations finished playing catchup and got their hands on innovations and technology worth protecting, they got real protective of IP just like Britain.

You can be sure now that the Chinese own Volvo, they won't exactly let any Volvo copy cats slide.

So the point is, these wannabe cars are probably going exhinct in China. No need to worry, I'm sure when Vietnam or Cambodia start making cars too, we'll see them spring up again.



EDIT: Wow I totally didn't notice the OP linked the same R&T article... Whoops

mingster

then you better not buy any electronics going forward, because you know, the chinese can't make anything right.

"the japanese actually improve"? guess you weren't alive in the 60s and 70s when japanese products were the laughing stock of the retail sector. it's the bleh attitude from folks like you that'll doom our country. they copy today (BTW americans copied plenty of innovations from other countries with no regard for intellectual property prior to signing international IP agreements), and they'll eat our frakking lunch and dinner tomorrow, and probably import our women as brides because they can afford to have a family. we have been able to stay on the top through government mandated compulsory (hint: FORCED by threat of prosecution) education and world class post-secondary education taught by the brightest minds that come from around the world. all the knee jerk crap we're seeing today, whether it be political or social or budget cuts (education always go first), are all because we forgot what it was like to be the underdog and to fight for a place in this world. what we should be doing is instead of mourning this mass exodus of manufacturing to lower cost countries (therefore only extending the inevitable and provide zero incentives for manufacturers to innovate on efficiency), we should focus on core strengths that made this country great: freedom of mind, freedom of thinking, liberated thought process (not necessarily liberal politically), and a highly mobile and educated workforce able to handle the increasing pace in the changes of global economic demands.

stop lamenting on what's already done and ask what we can do so that all the rest of the world can ever do is copy us while we innovate through the next century.

oh and BTW, many parts on the airplane you're flying today are ALREADY MADE IN CHINA. better get used to driving or taking the train dude.

Dr. WOT

Exactly, as they copy everyone else they are learning. There does need to come a point where they make the jump to original product, but the text from the article suggests there not as far out as these images would suggest. And even if they are not there yet, learning the tricks of the trade make it that much less of a leap.

At the rate they're going I have no doubt they will have a car worthy of sale in the US by 2015. It won't be a world beating product, but I bet they have an advantage on price that nobody else can touch.

MrClean

BINGO!

The Chinese's strength, cheap mfg.

Those clones are hellarious.

Thanks for the good laugh.

Not Sure

After decades of making cheap copies of electronics equipment like car/home stereos, TVs, cellphones, MP3 players etc... the Chinese still have nothing original to offer that market - they haven't innovated anything except efficient bootlegging techniques. I foresee the same future for their cheap automobiles.

They provide small omponents for some other manufacturers, but they can't put together an original complete product.

NFRs2000NYC

You are right.....lest we forget the 99% of everything we own.

Dr. WOT

I think you guys are overrating innovation in the car game. Germany more or less sets the tone for what everyone else does, so as copy cats China would basically be on a par with the ROW.