[dinosaur]

Den mittlerweile fünften Teil eröffne ich mal mit einer copyright Meldung:

UPDATE 1-Great Wall to appeal ban on Europe car import

Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:47am EDT


SHANGHAI, July 21 (Reuters) - Great Wall Motor Co. will appeal against an Italian court ruling that bars it from selling a compact car in the European Union because it too closely resembles Fiat's Panda, a lawyer for the Chinese car maker said. "There is no doubt that we will appeal against the ruling," he said on Monday, although he added that Great Wall was still working on its response to last week's decision.

A court in Turin, the Italian city that is home to Fiat, ruled on Wednesday that Great Wall should pay a 15,000 euro ($23,810) fine for the first compact GWPeri imported into Europe, Automotive News Europe said. Further violations would carry fines of 50,000 euros per imported car, the specialist publication said on its website. A Fiat spokesman confirmed the ruling to Reuters.

Last October, a Fiat spokeswoman in China said the Italian car maker had started legal proceedings against Great Wall in China and in Europe over the similarity of the GWPeri and the Panda, its popular city car. Great Wall spokesman Shang Yugui said: "We cannot accept the ruling. Let me reiterate that GWPeri was developed on our own and has no similarity to the Panda. A suit filed by Fiat in China was still awaiting a decision, he said.

Great Wall, China's largest sport utility vehicle (SUV) maker, started selling the GWPeri in March in China, priced at 43,900 yuan to 55,800 yuan ($6,430-8,173 ). It has sold about 4,000 units, which are also available in the Middle East, South America and Russia, Shang said. Great Wall has chosen Italy as its entry point for Europe. It sells one model, an SUV called the Hover, according to its Italian importer, Eurasia Motor. (Reporting by Fang Yan; Additional reporting by Gilles Castonguay in Milan; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Quentin Bryar)

Gruß,
Dino