Chinese cars are still relatively uncommon in my part of the world, but things are a bit different when one looks at trucks and buses. FAW, Dong Feng, Yutong and a bunch of other makers have successfully penetrated several markets in Asia and beyond. I’m sure they’re competently (and cheaply) made, but when I saw this rather familiar logo, I did a double take.
Based in Xiamen, Golden Dragon is a branch of King Long and was launched in 1992. I’m not sure how the name was selected, but it’s just about as Chinese as shark fin soup. It seems they ran out of clichés when it came to the logo, though. What’s the idea of slapping a counterfeit old-timey Citroën badge on these?
And it seems they’ve rather brazenly (but also quite logically) been putting this squashed double-chevron on their other products. Like this minibus I found on the Internets, which was also snapped in Thailand. This one answers the question that nobody asked, namely: “How about a mash-up of a Citroën logo and a Daewoo grille, just to throw them off the scent?”
There are plenty of piss-poor logos around in the automotive world. For instance, the Toyota emblem always looked like an afterthought to me, which it pretty much is. But at least one cannot accuse Toyota of blatant copyright infringement. Golden Dragon, though, seem to have taken an older version of a well-known marque’s identity, either displaying a stunning lack of imagination or a complete disregard for the very idea of branding. Let’s not forget that Citroën have been sold on the Chinese market for over a decade, so it’s not like the Chinese public is unaware of these things.
It’s really not difficult, Golden Dragon. I understand that now, for cost reasons, it’s seems bit late to do a 180 and change “your” logo into something less obviously derivative. But perhaps there’s a way to do it on the cheap.
Just flip it.
You could also re-arrange the letters to read “LONG RED GONAD,” for instance. Just a thought…
There, see? Fixed it for you. Turns out a 180 might work pretty well. After the Double Chevron, the Twin Trough. One trough symbolizes the depths of your lack of imagination and competence in graphic design. The other, deeper trough, shows how low you are willing to go in appropriating another maker’s brand identity. No, take it, I insist. You can have that for free. You’re welcome.
“Long Red Gonad”
An aspirational brand?
You have some hassle when the cheating chinese copy your logo.
You have real trouble when the cheating chinese copy your whole bus.
[German Neoplan Starliner-> chinese Zonda A9]
Wow that is some serious copying
Also, the Starliner is a mad cool looking bus, and I’m not normally into buses.
I happen to ride in one almost weekly, here is what the glazed area looks like from the inside
I do not share your confidence on that point.
H’mm. This is an interesting opinion I’m having some difficulty understanding. I’m not much a fan of the Toyota logo, myself, but it’s based on well-documented design, symbolism, and marketing principles and it’s not technically faulty. How do you conclude it’s an afterthought?
I think he means there was no Toyota logo (or it certainly wasn’t being used on anything) and they finally got around to creating/adding one in the 90’s when they realized pretty much everyone else had one.
Nowadays the “iconic” part of the Toyota Logo/Logotype is the TOYOTA letters writ large across the front grile of their most off-roady products. The logo itself if a complete second-ran to it.
It always reminds me of a longhorn steer.
Years ago someone said it looked like a turd in a fishbowl. I’ve never forgotten that…
Exactly as Jim said: the Toyota logo (love the “turd in a fishbowl” image, btw) is a complete second fiddle to the word “Toyota” – and in Japan / much of Asia, the key emblem is nearly always the nameplate’s, not the marque’s.
On a Toyota Crown, for instance, the grill, hubcaps and C-pillars have a Crown logo. The Toyota logo only appears on the rear of the car. Afterthought.
Okeh, thanks, that makes more sense to me if I understand you correctly now: it’s not that the logo was hastily or sloppily done, it’s that the [b]TOYOTA[/b] logotype was doin’ a fine job before they decided everyone else has a logo so they’d better get one, too.
Toyota used a bulls head logo long ago on my 74 MK2 Corona it actually was a bulls head and very detailed the later version is merely a modern rendition.
Daniel,
After the Israeli government dropped all protectionist pretensions, those (and other) Chinese buses started arriving en mass. 5 years later the common view is that they are, well, crap.
T
“Intellectual property” just isn’t a thing in China, is it?
It’s regarded as something between a quaint Western affectation and a dumb Western joke, sort of roughly like Westerners tend to regard a Japanese obsession with Hello Kitty and the like: “Wait, you mean grownups—actual, real adults—are seriously into this? LOLROFL.”
There are Golden Dragon buses here in Chile, and I never made the Citroën connection. I think being a circle instead of an oval, and the fact that Citroën hasn’t used the oval in decades, make the case not as easy as you put it. I doubt anyone that is not a car expert makes the connection.
Is the current Hyundai logo a copy of Toyota’s? They kind of went oval at the same time I think.
Of course, I’m stretching things a bit here. No confusion with Citroën is likely, and they haven’t used the oval logo in decades. As an aside, Golden Dragon’s
But it’s symptomatic of how the Chinese operate and a certain lack of imagination that I find deplorable.
My wife is Chinese and most of my clients, are, too.
A Chinese company would not have the least compunction of reverse engineering anything it could get its hands on, and make money doing so.
Blatantly stealing a design is unethical and so is stealing technology or reverse engineering it. Is is considered so In every developed country except China. Until China has a court system that actually works, I don’t think it will ever stop
Whaddya talking about? China has a court system that actually works: there’s a lawsuit, then a trial, then the Chinese company wins. It’s sort of Cardassian that way.
I work closely with a Chinese firm that makes portable generators, doing R&D. The sense of humor their engineers have is astounding. The Chinese themselves have a shockingly low opinion of their own products.
They also probably never graduated any metallurgists in China.