Industry heavyweights BMW and Mercedes-Benz are planning to take legal action to stop Chinese copies of their cars being shown at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. China’s Shuanghuan, whose motto is “Fly your character - Run with your heart”, currently manufactures the CEO (a BMW X3 clone) as well as the Nobel Smart Fortwo copycat.

Last year Smart was able to stop another Chinese manufacturer from bringing another Smart clone on to the European market, and now BMW has issued a warning to Shuanghuan against the sale of the CEO in Italy, reports Automotive News.

As we’ve always said, it’s good to see Chinese carmakers are trying to develop cars for the world market. They just need to get to the stage where they can be accepted as original Chinese cars and not just a cheaper alternative to other more expensive brands.