While Geely (the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group) today has design studios in Europe and Asia with world-class designers who create original styling for the group’s products (which include Proton), there was a time in the early days when Geely’s cars were essentially adaptations of models by other manufacturers. Some may call it ‘cloning’ or outright copying but it depends on the way and the circumstances one manufacturer uses the design of another company for its own product.
In the case of Geely, originally established as a refrigerator maker in 1986, the first car produced by the company called the Haoqing (HQ) in 1998 was adapted from a Daihatsu Charade (the G100 generation). However, it was permitted by FAW Tianjin, which was Daihatsu’s partner in China and had itself adapted the basic Charade design. Geely incorporated a Mercedes-like front end and people who went to China and saw the HQ would often tell their friends about a ‘Mercedes hatchback’ which they saw there!
Geely’s first car – the Haoqing (HQ)
Ambitions to be world-class manufacturer
However, Geely also aspired to become a global player and in time, it developed its own capabilities in all aspects of automobile design and development. It recruited experienced designers, with Peter Horbury leading them. Horbury was originally design head at Volvo and was responsible for ‘throwing the box’ out of the Swedish cars and giving them curves and sleek lines suited to the 21st century.
Geely’s founder, Li ShuFu, has been an ambitious man all his life, and it shows in all that he has done, especially during the past 12 years. The Geely Group has a large number of brands in its portfolio and covers virtually every segment of the auto market almost to the peak. And he could well have also been thinking about the pinnacle too as Geely once came out with a concept model of what anyone would have mistaken for a Rolls-Royce model.
Rolls-Royce Phantom in 2009
Similar styling elements to a Rolls-Royce
It was the Geely Excellence (GE) which was displayed at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show and as would be expected, the company refuted claims of copying a Rolls-Royce Phantom although there might be some elements that looked similar. Those elements would be the prominent vertical grille, large rectangular headlights and even a figurine on top of the grille, with the side view having a degree of similarity as well.
Meanwhile, Geely suggested that if the 5.4-metre long limousine was to be produced and offered for sale with a proposed name of ‘YingLun’, it might cost around £30,000 (around RM170,000) – about an eighth the price of a Phantom. Apart from the majestic proportions, the interior was as the saying goes, ‘fit for a king’ and indeed, it would be only the king alone as the concept model had only one seat in the back (a throne?). The single seat could have been also because the body was narrow (about 1800 mm) compared to a Phantom which was 1990 mm wide. In the front were seats for the driver and one more person, perhaps an assistant or a bodyguard.
Not considered ‘flattery’
Like every Rolls-Royce, the GE was also luxuriously appointed with wood, leather and wool, and equipped with a privacy partition, massage seat, a star-studded ceiling and a wine cabinet. The engine proposed was said to be a 3.5-litre V6.
The Rolls-Royce people did not consider that, in this case, ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ and were certainly unhappy that the GE was unveiled near its own Phantom at the motorshow. With the notable design elements protected by trademark registration, the British carmaker could have taken legal action, as the media speculated at that time.
Legal action was not taken
However, Hal Serudin, Corporate Communications Manager at Rolls-Royce Asia-Pacific, who was there in 2009, said that there was no legal action. “I remember that event well and one of my colleagues said ‘We are certainly not flattered by this’. Anyway, as you recall, they also mentioned a price for the car which would have been targeted at a segment of customers very different from those who buy a Rolls-Royce,” he told PISTON.MY.
2011 Geely Emgrand GE concept had no similarity to a Rolls-Royce.
There were different responses to Geely’s ‘re-invention of a classic’ and some regarded it as a very clear sign of copying. Geely took note and the GE evolved into the Emgrand GE in 2011 (shown above) with a massive chrome grille that had absolutely no visual connection to a Rolls-Royce. The concept model was shown at the 2010 Beijing Motor Show and had a plug-in hybrid powertrain with two seats behind.
