Author: Wei Wen

　　The first confrontation between Audi and Weilai in Germany started with a lawsuit.

　　Recently, in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, where its headquarters is located, Audi accused NIO of infringing its trademark rights.

Audi said that Weilai named its two models ES6 and ES8, which infringed the trademark rights of Audi S6 and S8.

　　Recently, Audi China told the media that the Audi headquarters believes that the name of the model selected by the company in the European market infringes the trademark rights of the Audi brand in Europe, and the matter is yet to be clarified at the legal level.

Weilai said it would not comment.

　　Although the relevant litigation occurred in Germany, the relevant judicial practice in China can provide reference.

You Yunting, senior partner of Shanghai Dabang Law Firm, told Yicai.com that the combination of symbols such as S6 and S8 is too simple, and applying for a trademark in China may not be approved. You must add a main trademark such as Audi or Weilai in front of it. Only by applying together can the registration be completed for Audi S6 and Audi S8.

Only the reference on the model should not be judged by the court as a trademark infringement act of clinging to the goodwill of others.

　　"At present, it has little impact from a judicial perspective. But from a public relations perspective, before a product enters the market, a trademark infringement lawsuit may have a certain impact." You Yunting said.

　　As a "latecomer" in the automotive industry, Chinese car companies are very similar to Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other established car companies in the naming of their models. X5, Trumpchi M6, Vision X3 and other models have a higher similarity with some overseas brands in the "letter + number" naming method.

　　However, before Audi sued Weilai, it was rare for overseas car companies to sue Chinese car companies for their car name trademark rights.

You Yunting believes that this lawsuit is a routine attack by Audi to prevent NIO from entering the German market.

　　On June 17, NIO's "friend business" Xiaopeng Motors also expressed its views on this.

Li Pengcheng, vice president of Xiaopeng Motors and general manager of brand public relations, publicly wrote on Weibo: "Audi suddenly sued Weilai at the door of the house, and I feel that I can't beat it, and some teachers are unknown."

　　Stefan Bratzel, director of Germany's Center for Automotive Management (CAM), said Chinese electric car makers are becoming more and more competitive, and such a lawsuit can hardly stop their expansion.

　　Previously, there was a view in the industry that as long as giants such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen underwent electrification transformation, they would bring a "destructive" blow to Tesla and Wei Xiaoli.

But today, the traditional luxury car companies that are vigorously promoting electrification have not achieved a "dimension reduction attack" against the new forces.

　　In the first quarter of 2022, NIO, which is considered to be slowing down in sales growth, still delivered 25,768 vehicles, and Audi, which is accelerating its transformation, sold 24,236 pure electric vehicles globally.

In the case of only laying out the domestic Chinese and Norwegian markets, Weilai's delivery volume is still ahead of Audi.

　　According to the 2021 "Highway Flying Electric Vehicle Brand Power Index", Audi ranks 16th and Weilai ranks 2nd. In the domestic electric vehicle insurance data in 2021, Weilai's insurance coverage is almost 7 times that of Audi, which is higher than that of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. , Audi has accumulated about 12,000 more insurances, and the average transaction price is second only to Mercedes-Benz, surpassing Audi by nearly 100,000 yuan.

　　The inability to provide electric vehicle products that meet the needs of consumers is an important reason why traditional luxury brand car companies and some joint venture car companies have been unable to open up in China.

Audi Q2 e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQC and other products are still based on the transformation of the fuel vehicle technology platform. In addition to continuing the conventional advantages of creating an outstanding luxury atmosphere and excellent driving feeling, traditional luxury brands ignore users' needs for intelligence and networking. .

　　"The electric vehicles we see now launched by luxury car companies have not jumped out of the definition of fuel vehicles to rebuild the concept of a new generation of automotive products. It is precisely because they have not jumped out of the definition of fuel vehicles, there is no innovation from products to marketing services. So there is no selling point, no profit point, and no demand," said a manager of a Chinese company of a luxury car brand.

　　In 2019, Audi's parent company Volkswagen established a Car.Software software department with thousands of employees to enhance the strength of self-developed software and empower the MEB electric vehicle platform.

However, at present, MEB platform products that are highly expected by the public are still considered to be not intelligent enough in China, and their performance is inferior to that of new power car companies such as Tesla and Wei Xiaoli.

　　Even in overseas markets, overseas traditional car companies are feeling the pressure from new trends such as smart cockpits and autonomous driving.

　　At the recently held Apple Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple released a new generation of CarPlay interactive system. Apple said that 76% of car buyers in North America said they would only consider models with CarPlay car interactive system, including Audi, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche. Fourteen car brands, including these, will be early partners for the next-generation system.

　　Tesla and Wei Xiaoli with strong software capabilities, as well as Chinese car companies with earlier layouts in the field of smart cockpits and some achievements, did not appear in the list of cooperation.

Under the circumstance that their own software and intelligent capabilities have relatively large shortcomings, choosing to cooperate with Apple may be a last resort for 14 car companies.

　　With the help of Apple Carplay, the experience of the smart cockpit of related car companies can be enhanced.

But it is worth noting that the new generation of Carplay system can display the fuel/electricity, driving speed of the vehicle, and can control related in-car functions such as air conditioning and seats, which requires car companies to open the underlying data to Apple.

At the same time, in the process of the current automotive electrical architecture from distributed to domain control to central computing, if car companies cannot establish self-research capabilities in software and intelligence, they only rely on strong suppliers such as Apple to achieve and fully If the product strength of the self-developed enterprise products of the stack is similar, it is necessary to open more interfaces and permissions to Apple.

　　This is equivalent to car companies handing over their "soul" to Apple, which is unimaginable in the era of fuel vehicles.

　　While overseas luxury car companies still have shortcomings in their own capabilities, and even need to rely on Apple to improve their product capabilities, Chinese car companies including Weilai, Great Wall, BYD and other Chinese car companies are extending their tentacles to the European market of BBAs' "private land". NIO, which is positioned as high-end, will become Audi's direct competitor in the European market.

　　Stefan Brazel, a professor at the Center for Automotive Management (CAM) in Burgess Gladbach, Germany, believes that in recent years, manufacturers such as BYD, Geely or NIO have emerged in China to compete with older car companies. The automotive sector is getting stronger.