When I was a consultant at the World Economic Forum in 2005, one of the big issues of concern to global elites was the rise of copyright theft in China. Mega companies that had set up shop in China to take advantage of cheap labour were suddenly losing sleep over the inevitable transfer of IP to savvy Chinese computer and auto manufacturers. There were endless strategies tossed around, but everyone in the room knew it was futile--that eventually IP was going to be 'stolen' and copycat products were going to start popping up.
Putting aside the surging trade deficit inherent in Chinese/American trade, China is making headlines for its "copycat" automobiles poised to offer serious competition to western manufacturers. The nightmare surmised at Davos has been realized indeed.
In a recent article from NBC News titled, China's Copycat Cars Compete with Western Giants, attention is paid to the uncanny resemblance of some of the Chinese companies' vehicles to those of their western counterparts, such as Toyota, BMW, Ford, and Jaguar.
One vehicle is the Chinese Landwind X7 that elicited the ire of Jaguar Landcover's CEO who chided Landwind for its "copy-and-paste" jobs. Eventually, the Jaguar Land Rover had to admit that Chinese copycats were just part of being a major player in China, and that imitation remains the finest form of flattery.
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| Hm--this Landwind X7 looks stunningly like a Land Rover... |
Yet another example is the Lifan Panda that is a copycat competitor to the adorable Cooper Mini--though 'panda' sound even more adorable I must admit. The design is not the only point of competition--the price is significantly lower. The EV version of the Panda (330 EV) starts at $15,400; but it's the gas version whose price comparison is much more striking: the Lifan Panda 320 is priced at $7,150 in China versus a starting price of $20,700 for the Mini.
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| The Lifan Panda--at $7,150 who wouldn't want one? |
One of the things the Chinese do amazingly well is riff off American trends and take them to the next level. And whether it's the super popular TWSBI fountain pen (raved over by fountain pen aficionados), or the Cowin X3 SUV, crowdsourcing is a way Chinese manufacturers can get new designs and prototypes to market faster and with tremendous success.
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| The Cowin X3 SUV the result of crowdsourcing |
Indeed, with copycat innovation, crowdsourcing, and the billions of dollars pouring in and out of China, American innovation may have to take some advice from China's playbook--who's playing whom is the real question.
Just this past week, multibillionaire Chinese tech CEO Jia Yeuting claimed that Apple is outdated. Imagine that--one of the hallmarks of American innovation lambasted for being outdated. Jobs rolled in his grave. Incidentally, Yeuting's LeSEE was unveiled ahead of the Beijing auto show, and, according to him it is designed to rival Tesla's Model 3.
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| LeEco's LeSEE is the competition to Tesla's Model3. |
But this is the new face of innovation, and it's no longer a western one. Could this be a sign of things to come? I believe it is. As China buys up more American companies, and amasses greater fortune while the US economy slumps under recession, a lacklustre dollar, and overwhelming trade deficit, the signs of a new top dog for innovation are becoming stronger--and they're emerging from the east. The Davos folk back a decade ago saw it coming--or did they?
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