원숭이 사냥꾼 카피사루

When Toyota launched its Lexus luxury car brand a decade ago it made no secret that it had Mercedes in it sights.

토요타가 Lexus를 런칭했을때 벤츠를 베낀것은 비밀도 아니었다.

Ten years later, the Japanese are sending in the clones with increasing frequency.

It's not just the expensive models which European makers accuse Japan of copying. Consider, for example, the headlights on the latest Toyota Tarago. Now picture those of the Peugeot 206. Look familiar? Looks as if they should share the same part number.

토요타 Tarago, 푸조 206 어때? 비슷하지?

마치 같은 part number를 공유하듯이.

When Audi's TT coupe and convertible were unveiled, diminutive Japanese maker Daihatsu had a car with an amazing likeness displayed at the very next Tokyo Motor Show called the Kopen. The latest Lexus coupe, due here before the end of the year, looks like a larger interpretation of Audi's Bauhaus design.

아우디가 TT를 공개한후 일본의 다이하츠가 다음해 놀랍도록 비슷한 Kopen을

토쿄 모터쇼에서 공개했다.

Daihatsu has also built a miniature Hummer and, bizzarely, called it the Naked. And in 1999 at the same show, Mitsubishi took the wraps off a car that, if you squinted, you would swear blind was a new Mini.

다이하츠는 또한 Hummer의 미니어쳐 모델을 만들고 엽기적이게도

Naked라는 이름을 붙였다.

What about the "teardrops" on the headlights on latest batch of Hondas, such as the HR-V, Odyssey and the new Integra? A hint of BMW 3 Series perhaps? The tailights on the HR-V have a remarkable resemblance to the Volvo 850 wagon's.

From a distance, Toyota's square-shaped MR2 looks like a Porsche Boxster.

The original Toyota Celica was so inspired by the Ford Mustang of the era that today's enthusiasts call it the "Mustang Celica".

멀리서 보면 토요타의 MR-2는 포르쉐 Boxter를 닮았다.

셀리카는 Mustang에서 영감을 받았다.

Now, even after 10 years, Lexus still hasn't broken its clone-like mould. The latest Lexus LS430 has the sillouette of the superseded Mercedes S Class and a headlight theme borrowed from the new S Class.

10년이 흘렀지만 Lexus는 여전히 베끼기지 멈추지 않는다.

When the covers came off the fourth generation Lexus at the Detroit Motor Show two years ago, Mercedes-Benz broke its corporate silence over what it called "Japanese copycat cars" but stopped short of calling it plagiarism.

"People explain to us it is really an honour to have someone copy our cars, but I don't think we see it that way any more," said Harald Leschke, the head of design at Mercedes-Benz. "I think it is quite obvious that they admire the design, then try to do it their way. I'm sure in some industries this sort of thing is not legal.

"What surprises us most is that [Lexus] are prepared to do it, in public, and that customers are prepared to buy their copycat cars."

"사람들은 우리차를 베끼는것은 영광스런 일이라고 하지만,

난 더이상 그렇게 생각하지 않는다" 벤츠의 디자인 실장.

"더욱 놀라운것은 Lexus는 불법적인 copy가 준비되어있고

고객들은 그 베낀차량을 살 준비가 되었다는 것"

"I think it's fair to say all their cars have been influenced by someone else's models," he said. "They don't have a history so they have to copy someone else's."

" 내 생각에는 Lexus는 모든 종류의 차량에서 영감을 받았다고 하는게 옳겠지. 그들은 역사가 없으니 남의 것을 베끼는 수 밖에 없다"

Industry experts argue that a flagship Lexus made sense when it was considerably cheaper than the German benchmarks. But now that it is priced the same, there's less incentive to drive an imitation. Nevertheless, Europe's car maker have now become so concerned about Japan's sincere forms of flattery that they are wary of showing concept cars of future models.