‘Merc stole my bakkie design’
Citizen reporter
A young man from Polokwane claims he is the brain behind the 2018 Mercedes-Benz bakkie.
Kgothatso Bosoga, who goes by the name D’wayne KxRomeo on Facebook, appears to strongly believe he helped conceptualise the Mercedes-Benz X-Class bakkie.
In a series of images published today in a tweet by popular Twitter parody account @AdvBarryRoux, Bosoga appears to have been interacting with the car brand in 2013, reaching out to them with his idea.
In a message dated March 12, the carmaker seems to be open to the innovation and replies: “Can you attach the image of this message? All the best, the MercedesBenz team.”
This message is followed by Bosoga replying the same day. He appears to be battling with his phone. “I’m trying to send ... my phone says failed … what (sic) the e-mail? I’ll e-mail it …”
An image of the sketched vehicle appears to be posted a few minutes later on March 13, 2013.
There seems to be no interaction until April 2, 2013, when Bosoga again messages Merc: “You were talking to me before I send (sic) my design but after sending it you’re ignoring me … are you stealing my design…?but please don’t steal my design coz (sic) I really love it and I wanna be the one to come up with that Mercedes.”
Mercedes-Benz SA responds by telling Bosoga not to worry as they have not stolen his design. “In fact, we’d like to post it on our wall, if you’re okay with that. We love getting input from our customers.”
The Citizen contacted Bosoga, who confirmed he had contacted Mercedes with his sketch. He is seeking legal assistance. An enquiry was sent to Mercedes-Benz to find out if they are aware of Bosoga’s images. The car brand is yet to respond.