Admittedly I just glanced over the article. I could maybe see the point if they were talking about '08 cars, and wanting to maintain their rights on the design. But there's a difference to owning the design and owning the image.
I ran into something similar when I was in Detroit. I parked my car and was walked around Rouge Steel taking pictures. Not once or twice but four times their gaurds approached me on the sidewalk to tell me that I had to stop. I calmly explained each time that the sidewalk was public property, and that according to US law any image available from public property is a public image.
Anybody who tells me that they own the image of my car, however, would be knocked down by my gales of laughter.
