STOP RIPPIN OFF THE GERMANS!

What's going on here? Every week a new Japanese car pops up that is an obvious copy of a production model German car. Notice above.
 
Picture 1: Toyota ripped off the rear end/taillight pattern of the BMW 3 Series. The 3 has been in production since 1999, and the revised Avalon shows up in 2001 with the same taillights. Too similar to be coincidence. There's a reason it's called "The Ultimate Driving Machine," Toyota. Stop copying it.
 
Picture 2: The designers of the 2003 Accord coupe could not have tried any harder to rip off Mercedes. Sorry Honda, Mercedes gets the credit for that taillight design. They've been using it for years. If I blatantly copied like that with my work, I'd get expelled from college. Seriously, the number of design cues that Honda stole not only from the CL, but the CLK, C, S, and SL, is sickening.
 
Picture 3: (UPDATED) Whoops, little error on my part. I had the Toyota MR2 Spyder in mind, but in my haste used the Honda S2000. While it could be argued that the S2000 and the Boxter share some similarities, the MR2 Spyder is the better comparison. Here you have a Toyota that came out a couple of years after the Boxter. It is clear that Toyota's design team did the following: (1) Bought a Boxter and parked it in their design studio. (2) Sat down and copied as many styling cues as possible. The result: a Toyota Boxter. Seriously, how many times has it happened to you that you think you see a Boxter coming only to find that it's an MR2 Spyder? Happens to me all the time. It *waaaay* too closely mimics several design aspects that rightfully belong to Porsche, not to mention the overall design and shape. It is also the MR2's proportions, in addition to the styling, that make it look like a Boxter. Porsche has been building mid-engine 2 seaters for decades, and all of a sudden Toyota unveils their spiffy MR2 Spyder, which--surprise-- looks exactly like the German Porsche. Carweb.com agrees with me: "Coming or going, there is no question that it has a Porsche Boxster look to it. Both are mid-engine sports cars and the MR2 has a large functional side air intake just rear of the doors, as does the Boxster" (http://www.carweb.com/featurearticle/cw_article19.html). Are Toyota's engineers shameless??
 
The bottom line: Seriously, what is this new found obsession on the part of Toyota and Honda with copying high end German cars? Is it because the Germans--and only the Germans--have damn near perfected the car, from both a styling and performance/durability aspect? Or is it a desperate attempt to attract customers who might confuse the $25,000 Accord with the $80,000 CL, or the $25,000 MR2 with the $50,000 Boxter? Why can't the Japanese, who already enjoy the highest percentage of car sales around here, take pride in designing cars that are truly theirs? The previous Accord coupe, IMHO, was a good looking car. And I'll be goddamned, its design didn't rip off any other cars.
 
There's my 2 cents on the subject. Feel free to contact me and agree, or (should you disagree) argue.
Love, Tom
 
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