As a result, Nio is no longer allowed to advertise in Germany

Big news in Germany, where Audi has won a lawsuit against the Chinese Nio. The result: fines, advertising bans and possibly even more.

Let’s get back to what the lawsuit is actually about. The thunder started a year ago: Audi sued Nio because of the name of its models. See, Nio supplies cars like the ES6 and ES8. These are all-electric SUVs, but Audi isn’t very happy with that name.

S6 and S8

According to the German manufacturer, these names are almost identical to the names he puts on his cars. These are the S6 and S8, the sportier version of the A6 and A8. Audi therefore decided last year to sue Nio.

And indeed: According to the German court, the Nio names are too similar to those of Audi. Although the judge points out that Nio’s ES6 type designation differs significantly from Audi’s S6 type designation, he does not consider the addition of the letter “E” to be sufficient.

Supplement E

People might see the ES6 as the electric variant of the Audi S6. Finally, the letter “E” is used by many manufacturers to indicate that it is an electric car. According to Richter, it would therefore be possible for customers to believe that both the ES6 and the S6 come from the same manufacturer.

Well, Audi is winning this case, although Nio will still appeal. What hangs over the Chinese? On the one hand, there is a fine of 250,000 euros or a six-month prison sentence for the German director of the Chinese car manufacturer. In the meantime, Nio is no longer allowed to advertise its ES6 and ES8 in Germany.

EL7

If Nio finally loses the case, it appears that it will rename its models. It probably chooses the names EL6 and EL8. Shortly before the European launch, the ES7 sold in China was quickly renamed the EL7 to avoid a conflict with Audi.

Audi itself is of course pleased with the judge’s verdict. “The verdict confirms that the contested model designations infringe Audi trademark rights. Many of our models have an iconic character – for us and for our customers. This also and especially applies to our sporty S models.