[TusharK]

The ongoing tussle between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Mahindra over the Thar's design has now reached down under. Both companies have moved the Federal Court of Australia after FCA demanded that Mahindra should not launch the Thar in Australia and should give a 90-day notice if it intends to do so. The company claims that it infringes the Jeep Wrangler's design.



Mahindra has filed a reply in the court stating that the company doesn't have any plans to launch the current model of the Thar in Australia. It has also agreed to provide adequate notice to FCA if they do wish to introduce the model.

Earlier, FCA had objected to the design of the Mahindra Roxor as it was almost identical to the Jeep. Mahindra was forced to redesign the vehicle and the new design was later approved by a U.S. regulator.

While the Roxor looked similar to the Jeep CJ, the Thar is a rip-off of the Wrangler's design. The off-roader is currently on sale in India. So, does that mean FCA will sue Mahindra in India next?

Source: TOI

Link to Team-BHP News

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by TusharK

The ongoing tussle between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Mahindra over the Thar's design has now reached down under.

This is something new to me. I always thought that Mahindra was building the jeep under licence for decades.

The West talks about democracy and free market that they preach to the rest of the world but themselves loath competition.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by TusharK

So, does that mean FCA will sue Mahindra in India next?

Looks to me like Mahindra can only build and sell the Thar only in India, based on all the licenses it has maintained historically.

FCA clearly doesnt appreciate Mahindra thinking about export markets. With the Roxor episode - FCA now seems to be erring on the side of pre-emptive caution, as this lawsuit shows!

[tanbeamer]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

This is something new to me. I always thought that Mahindra was building the jeep under licence for decades.

The West talks about democracy and free market that they preach to the rest of the world but themselves loath competition.

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.

[Nav-i-gator]

All said and done, Jeep is not in the wrong. However much we love it, Thar IS a copy of Wrangler, so much so, that it demands royalty payments!

[arjab]

Originally Posted by TusharK

So, does that mean FCA will sue Mahindra in India next?

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 THAR's from the opening 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.

[YD14]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

The West talks about democracy and free market that they preach to the rest of the world but themselves loath competition.

IMHO, it is less about destroying competition and more about rewarding for hard work. If hard work is not rewarded then less 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 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.

[Latheesh]

Thar looks so close to the Wrangler. Wrangler buyer looks like an idiot in front of common Indians! Who pays 65 Lakhs for a car that looks like our Thar!

[turbo]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Mahindra has filed a reply in the court stating that the company doesn't have any plans to launch the current model of the Thar in Australia. It has also agreed to provide adequate notice to FCA if they do wish to introduce the model.

And that is the end of the story.
The Aussie court cant tell Indian authorities what to do, and what not to.

Jeep looks pretty rattled about the failure of the Wrangler in India, even after building it here, so they filed a lawsuit in a country where Mahindra isn't even planning to launch the Thar.

EDIT: Not really sure why anyone would want to buy a Thar in Australia anyway? Dont they have cheaper, more capable off-road vehicles anyway. Heck, a Ford Ranger (endeavour) costs 30k AUD. Which is 17 lakhs.

[DeadCenter]

Now that FCA has won with the Roxor, I'm sure they believe it would be easier to win with the Thar considering the level of similarity. While the original jeep design was licensed by Mahindra, the Wrangler was not. I would not call it a blatant copy but an 'Anu Malik' level of inspiration due to which I would never buy one even though I love it so much.

Mahindra does have presence in Australia and there must have been some kind of talks about the Thar which FCA came to know of, which triggered this.

[veedub89]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Thar looks so close to the Wrangler. Wrangler buyer looks like an idiot in front of common Indians! Who pays 65 Lakhs for a car that looks like our Thar!

I think that will offend all of the ten people who own the Wrangler.

But seriously the Thar and Wrangler can only be compared in terms of the looks. I think almost everyone here will agree that the Wrangler is more capable than the Thar. The fit and finish of the interior is ahead of the Thar too. Reliability could be better as well. All these things add up.

Add up to 65 lakhs? Maybe not. But maybe some people still see value in the Wrangler.

[maddy42]

I was surprised they took so long to file a suit. It was long overdue since the launch as there is nothing in the new thar which says its not a rip off copy of the big daddy. This lawsuit will take a lot of time away from Mahindra.

Mahindra took the playbook of the chinese.

Maddy

[wildsdi5530]

I think FCA has stripped down body panels to compare Thar and the Wrangler. Now they have enough data to prove plagiarism, they will establish precedent by winning in several courts before going to the international tribunal.
Simple solution is to pay royalty to FCA and get a license. Both parties will be happy that way.
Or in the recent words of a CM of Delhi, just release the formula, patents be damned. And continue bullying FCA in India and ignoring it in the rest of the world.

[Mi2un]

We are used to seeing the Chinese pull this kind of design rip offs, now Mahindra is doing the same in India. It brings a bad name to our industry on the whole. Considering they even had Pinnanfarina under their wing but still had to make a fake wrangler is disappointing. This will get more interesting when they release the 4 door Thar.

[Jerryaj]

Originally Posted by TusharK

While the Roxor looked similar to the Jeep CJ, the Thar is a rip-off of the Wrangler's design. The off-roader is currently on sale in India. So, does that mean FCA will sue Mahindra in India next?

Source: TOI

Link to Team-BHP News

Originally Posted by arjab

As per the grapevine, FCA has purchased THAR's from the opening 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.

Not pretty sure if FCA could do anything to hurt Mahindra and Thar in India. Unless FCA have active Patent/ design Patents surrounding the Wrangler they can't do anything with respect to alleged design copy. At max if I'm not wrong they can make a representation to CCI stating that there is an unfair trade practice from Mahindra by copying the design to gain market advantage.