Audi takes Nio to court and wins the case: the names of the Chinese brand are too similar to his

The story that pits Audi and Nio against each other began in 2021, when the House of Ingolstadt sued the Chinese brand for the protection of the names of its S6 and S8 models at the European Patent Office.

We talked about it for the first time last year, in this article, and now we can update the story with the sentence.

According to the German newspaper Automobilwoche, the court sided with Audion Thursday after a legal battle that lasted more than 15 months.

The judge in fact established that the two NIO SUVs, ES6 and ES8, they actually have names too similar to the German automaker’s S6 and S8 modelssince the letter alone “AND” it is not distinctive enough.

The vowel could be confused as indicating propulsion “electric”, leading potential customers to see it as the transition from a petrol-powered Audi to an electric one.

In this regard, the magistrate stated:

“There is a risk that consumers assume that “ES 6” is “S 6” in the electric version, that the two vehicles come from the same manufacturer. There is therefore a danger of transferring confusion through association which goes beyond mere association.“.

The sentence it is not definitive and it is likely that NIO will appeal; as of now, at any rate, NIO is banned from advertising ES6 and ES8 in Germany and faces a fine of €250,000 or up to six months in prison for the managing director of NIO Germany, if the ban is violated.

The accused models are not yet available in Germany, where the brand has instead launched its first electric vehicle, the model “ES7”later renamed “EL7″.

On the other hand, Audi welcomed the decision, stating that its brands are “essential” And “we must protect them comprehensively”.

The Audi-NIO dispute is not the first, and probably won’t be the last, in the automotive world: a similar clash had occurred years ago between Ford and Tesla, in relation to an electric model by name “AND”.

The house in Dearborn (Michigan city included in the urban area of ​​Detroit) had, in 2014, threatened a lawsuit against Tesla if the latter had actually called its third model electric “model E” as initially stated by Musk.

Ford had in fact chosen that particular name to differentiate its petrol division (Ford Blue) from the electric one (Ford Model E); Ford’s ban had initially broken the eggs in the Tesla CEO’s basket, who has never made a secret of his own fondness for puns.

In fact, the names of its electric models, lined up, form the word “SEXY” (at the time only “SEX”).

Initially Musk had opted for a small trick, officially calling the third car “Model 3” but using as a symbol the same three horizontal lines also present in the name “Tesla”.

Only in 2017 did the CEO decide to adopt the Arabic numeral.