Citroën has won a small victory against Volvo-owned Polestar in court, after a judge ruled the latter’s logo was too similar to one owned by the former and forced Polestar to stop sales of its Polestar 2 SUV in France — even though it doesn’t sell them there.
Polestar started as an all-electric performance offshoot of Volvo, and became its own brand in 2017.
The marque says its logo’s design (bottom left in the photo above) is meant to evoke the Earth’s pole stars, inspired by the company’s name.
However, French carmaker Citroën says the design is too similar to its own double-chevron logo (bottom right) as well as the logo of its electric-sub-brand DS Automobiles (at top).
While this isn’t really an issue for Polestar in France, since it doesn’t sell its vehicles there, it does pose a problem for vehicles the marque sells in China, where its parent company, Geely, is headquartered, and where many Polestar vehicles are also built.
Citroën has a reason to be angry, you see; the DS Automobiles sub-brand is an important player in the EV market, and has been selling vehicles at standalone DS dealerships in China since 2014. DS is hoping to sell only all-electric and hybrid vehicles by 2025.
Polestar will be banned from using its logo in France for six months, and was ordered to pay a fine of €150,000 in damages to Citroën.
It wasn’t all a win for Citroën though. “The products that the manufacturers sell are aimed at a public that is knowledgeable and that the logos will therefore not get confused,” the courts said. “However, the court has ruled in favor of Citroën that Polestar could hitch a ride on the reputation of the Citroën logo.”
This content was originally published here.