'Aki'lles

Bajaj is not just 'hamara' anymore. Gaongqing Union Auto Co, a Chinese company has come up with a imitation of Bajaj's well known CNG autorickshaws. Well that's the standard Chinese business model - first come up with an imitation, mass produce it and then sell it at very competitive prices till the original is driven out of the market itself. At a first glance this case seems to be on expected lines, however there is a shrewder twist to it. The Chinese company is marketing the imitation model as 'China made Bajaj autorickshaws'. Liberally using the brandname without paying any royalty or having any kind of tie up with Bajaj.

Bajaj's reaction is on expected lines. Bajaj plans to take up this matter with the Chinese authorities but one wonders whether anything would come out of it. As a industry analyst was quoted saying - "It's a country that thrives on copycats, where even global brands like General Motors and Yamaha have not been able to stop sales of copies of their vehicles . It wont be easy for Bajaj either". Uhmm.... so what is the Chinese word for Hamara?