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According to the plan, "NIO Berlin" will be held in Berlin, Germany at 0: 00 Beijing time on October 8, and three models of ET7, ET5 and ES7 will be released to the European market. It is worth mentioning that NIO "quietly" renamed the ES7 model to "EL7", market speculation may be related to Audi's previous lawsuit against NIO for trademark infringement.

In June this year, according to German "Business Daily" and other media reports, Volkswagen's Audi filed a lawsuit in the Munich court, accusing Ulai of infringing Audi's trademark rights. Audi said the two models, named ES6 and ES8, infringed the trademarks of Audi S6 and S8. Both Audi and NIO confirmed the authenticity of the lawsuit.

This time, the ES7 model has been renamed "EL7" or affected by the above incident, although the previously sued model is not the ES7, but considering that the naming strategy of the above-mentioned models is consistent, the move is likely to avoid unnecessary disputes in Europe.

NIO said that since the inception of the company, NIO has persisted in originality and made a systematic reflection on the naming of the model, and has started to apply for global registration since 2016, and has been successfully registered in China, Europe, the United States and other markets. Unfortunately, Audi questioned the name of the ES8/ES6 model and filed a lawsuit in Germany. In view of the protracted litigation, in order to avoid affecting the interests of users in Europe, NIO decided to use the name EL7 in Europe for now. NIO will continue to respond to the ongoing trademark litigation in Germany.

Does NIO infringe Audi's trademark? No matter at home or abroad, there are only two kinds of naming for automotive products, either a combination of Chinese characters, letters and numbers, or pure Chinese characters, letters and numbers, and both Ulai and Audi are the first way of naming.

On the face of it, ES6/ES8 and S6/S8 are indeed very similar, and the difference between them is just one more "E" or one less "E", but in fact, few people will associate ES6/ES8 with S6/S8. The former is a new energy SUV, while the latter is a fuel sports car.

In the domestic market, it is very common for automobile products to be named "infringement". For example, SAIC GM Baojun's RS-5, RS-7, 530,630,730 models are very similar not only to "infringing" to Audi, but also to some models of BMW. To this end, Li Pengcheng, vice president of Xiaopeng Automobile, also said on Weibo: "it has not been one or two days since these NIO cars were called by this name. Although Audi and Xilai compete, they are also seemingly harmonious, and each has its own way. At this time, Audi suddenly sued Wei Lai on his doorstep, more or less unable to beat the mix, but more or less unknown. You see, also called X7, when did BMW sue Changan Auchan, Hanteng, Mahayana, Lufeng …... " Some netizens left a message below: "Audi this operation is really incomprehensible."

Of course, whether it is infringing or not still needs to be defined by law. Some lawyers said that the global trademark protection laws are similar, but in the actual decisions, judges may make different decisions, mainly depending on whether the two sides have registered trademarks, whether naming will cause confusion to consumers, and so on. At home, people will not confuse these cars, but they are not well-known abroad, and it is difficult to say whether consumers will confuse their products with Audi, depending on how the Munich court judges.

However, Audi's lawsuit against Ulai for trademark infringement seems to be only superficial, a deeper cause or hindrance to its global layout. In terms of products, the ES8 is the first model of NIO, which was launched in December 2017, and the current price is 49.6-656000 yuan; ES6 is the second mass production model, launched in December 2018, and the current price is 38.6-554000 yuan; at present, NIO is the leader of the new power of car-building in China, and it also has a certain market position in the new energy vehicle market.

As the leader of the new domestic car-building forces, the development of NIO in all aspects is being carried out in an orderly manner. In May 2021, NIO announced its entry into the Norwegian market, which is the first step for Xilai to enter the overseas market. In December 2021, NIO issued the 2022 development plan, and the products and system-wide services in 2022 will be officially landed in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and other countries. On October 8th, NIO will hold a press conference in Berlin, Germany, to launch three models of ET5, ET7 and ES7 for the European market. According to the plan, by 2025, NIO also plans to enter more than 25 countries and regions.

Although NIO does not have a high sense of presence in the global market, Audi still sees its performance in the Chinese market, and NIO's products will soon be moved to Audi's home for sale, which may give Audi a sense of crisis. All along, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi-based traditional automakers continue to lead the market development, once the release of new products can always cause an uproar in the market. However, at present, the development of fuel vehicles has reached its peak, and the era of new energy vehicles has just begun. More and more traditional automakers are laying out this market, which has obviously become the key to future development.

The point is that, in the context of global electrification, Audi's electrified products are more or less satisfactory. In the domestic market, Audi's electric models include Q4 e-tron, Q2L e-tron, Q5 e-tron, e-tron and other products, covering a price range of about 200000 to 500000 yuan. However, even if the Audi brand is blessed, few consumers pay for it. On the contrary, these new car brands can provide a different experience from traditional carmakers in terms of services and products. According to the data, Audi sold 81000 pure electric vehicles worldwide in 2021, while Ulay delivered 91400.

All in all, on the surface, Audi is a reasonable measure to protect the trademark, but the reason behind it is worth studying. In fact, the development of new energy vehicles is in its infancy, both software technology and products are launched quickly, while traditional car giants such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz seem to be immersed in the glory of the past. By 2025, the auto market may face a reshuffle of pattern and technology.

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