We had reported that Jeep dragged Mahindra to court in Australia claiming that the Thar infringes the Wrangler's design. In a poll, more than 75% of BHPians feel that Jeep should sue Mahindra in India for copying the Wrangler's design to develop the second-generation Thar.
Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:
Mahindra has gotten away with theft just because we have always associated Mahindra with "Jeeps", and they legally built them since the 1950s. But AFAIK, the licence expired in the mid-90s, which is why Mahindra even removed the "CJ" (Civilian Jeep) moniker from its products. Although I love the 2nd-gen Thar, I will be the first to call out Mahindra on this. There is no doubt they have cheated and this is a blatant theft of intellectual property.
Again, the Thar got away with it only because Mahindra has always built Jeeps. How would we feel if Tata launched a Landcruiser-replica tomorrow? Or Maruti launches an exact copy of the VW Beetle? Sucks that a respectable company with a market cap of 1-lakh crore cannot give its products original designs!
Adding a poll. If I was CEO of FCA India, I would sue the heck out of Mahindra. They had better do it fast so that no statute of limitations kicks in.
My guess why this was not a problem with the Mahindra Thar CRDe:
My guess:
- Because it looked almost identical to the Mahindra 540 / 550 which Mahindra had built legally.
- Because Jeep India wasn't selling the original at the same time.
Here's what BHPian tanbeamer had to say on the matter:
Loathing competition is one thing, copying the competition is another. The Thar is a clear imitation of the Wrangler and while I like the vehicle, the fact that it remains a copy of the original bugs me to the core. FCA isn't wrong on this front and they have all the right to go and fight in courts.
Here's what BHPian Nav-i-gator had to say on the matter:
All said and done, Jeep is not in the wrong. However much we love it, Thar IS a copy of the Wrangler, so much so, that it demands royalty payments!
Here's what BHPian YD14 had to say on the matter:
IMHO, it is less about destroying competition and more about rewarding for hard work. If hard work is not rewarded, then fewer people will be willing to do it. A free market cannot work without property rights being enforced as the one who copied can always price the item cheaper because he does not have development costs. Jeep did the hard work of designing a modern-looking car at the same time preserving its vintage characteristics. I am sure their design teams had to work for months trying everything possible and Jeep had to pay them for that.
Mahindra simply copied a lot of it (I believe everyone will agree that Thar's design is a ripoff) and is selling it for profit. So I do not find anything wrong on Jeep's behalf.
Here's what BHPian arjab had to say on the matter:
Rumours say that FCA is not at all pleased with the unabashed "inspirational copy" (euphemistically putting it), of the Thar from Wrangler.
As per the grapevine, FCA has purchased Thars from the open market, doing a detailed benchmarking and teardown analysis as to the level of similarities in feature, aesthetics and engineering design of the Thar vs the Wrangler and then take the next step.
And from what little I know, the Yanks are pretty good at putting up such kind of litigations. They also have the success of the Roxor litigation backing them up.
Let's see where all this leads to. Mahindra badly needs a "design language" of its own. No wonder they head-hunted Pratap Bose and possibly Julian Thompson into their fold.
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.