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<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s caused everything from Birkenstock to (brand beginning with Y) to deal with angry clone-customers, who insist that the company fix products they didn’t actually make, but which show their names and look like the originals.<\/p>\n
China has long been investing in electric car technology; BYD has just about cornered the electric bus market, and was showing off credible, innovative hybrids years ago. But Tesla, despite its appalling body quality, autonomous-driving safety shortcuts, and poor treatment of its own employees, may still have the best engines of any electric car out there. (Its battery technology, supplied by Panasonic, is also a competitive advantage, but one which is, well, supplied by Panasonic).<\/p>\n
How can Chinese companies get their hands on the core of that technology? Well, they could offer to build Tesla a factory in China, and then either simply observe-and-copy the company\u2019s systems, or, down the road, extort company secrets by finding some legal issue and threatening to impound the entire plant.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s automotive market is tough for everyone; it\u2019s too big to ignore, but it\u2019s also dangerous to participate in. Your fortunes can rise and fall on the whim of regulators, and you never know what will happen to your industrial secrets. Perhaps the Chinese government sincerely wants to bring in as many electric cars as it can, in its newfound effort to mitigate environmental disaster; or perhaps they have something else in mind.<\/p>\n