Monty291 - Solved: Fake Chinese Tesla presented by Zhan Baosheng

[el_monty]

Fellow Autopuzzlers, for a point please tell me what is this car and the name of the person behind it.

Don't be naughty! Stay away from Google Search by Image, kids.

[el_monty]

Up to the Experts.

[ChanceHuncha]

That grille has Tesla like design. Any relations?

[el_monty]

Well spotted. Yes, there is a connection to Tesla. Locked for you.

[ChanceHuncha]

So this is a car that was supposed to be either a Model S design or a Supercar/Sportscar concept by Tesla China. The brand who stopped Tesla from entering China. They even had very similar logos too.

[el_monty]

That's right. Can you tell me the name of the man who cyber-squatted the Tesla domain in China and presented this design to the world under the banner of Tesla? Still locked.

[ChanceHuncha]

Zhan Baosheng?

[el_monty]

That's right!
Zhan Baosheng was the protagonist of a notorious trademark dispute against Tesla in China (othe Western companies, such as Apple, have faced similar quandaries). He registered the Tesla trademark and web domain in China in 2006, before Elon Musk's company did so, and created a website using Tesla's logo and presenting this coupé design as if it was an upcoming Tesla product. When Tesla arrived in China, they were forced to use an alternative name ("Tuosule") to avoid paying the $30M that Zhan was initially demanding from them for the right to use their name there. Eventually, after years of wrangling in the courts, he did manage to extort an undisclosed amount of money from Tesla in a settlement.
This fake Tesla design is actually pretty good and competently made. I read in an interview with Zhan that he had commissioned the car from a design student whose name was not mentioned, I imagine he probably didn't even pay him/her anything.