Can I use real car design in commercial application?

IDK I kind of think if I take like BMW and remove logos and modify headlights they will have no right to do much. it is non functional design not real utility design. Plus it will be in 3d only and will not compete as a real car with them. if they are really that mean how come tons of videos made with cars for sale, tons of 3d models for sale and those even have actual copyrighted logo

Lets say I copy their gas tank inch to inch but only for 3d model I doubt anyone will ever say anything, plus inside of it is nothing since it is not a CAD model of a functional gas tank but for animation only so really i did not clone it 100%

I design a race car (real physical car) for a client they wanted the car to be inspired by a certain model of a Mercedes.

Anyway we designed this car but during the process I was very clear to them saying I wouldn't include anything with merc branding (grills, badging etc)

Once it was all said and done we had something that to an average person looked a merc like but had no branding.

When it was being manufactured Mercedes found out and got a bit narky but seeing as it wasn't a copy and had no branding they couldn't do anything..

The Chinese.
I wonder if you labeled the result after a Chinese clone if anybody would bother you. They mostly like to clone luxury cars and make them cheap.

Guys I would recommend checking out this thread:

The Verge: 3D Printing & DRM

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