China is notoriously famous for the knock-off culture producing replicas of just about anything and we take a look at the automobiles they have brazenly copied.
In this post, we take a look at 7 Chinese copycat cars that are on sale in the USA but not many people opted for them. We all know, China is infamous for being a country that believes in developing cheap knock-offs of all sorts of products leveraging its mammoth and cheap labour. It has done so with fashion, electronics and automobiles. Here are these 7 cars that people don’t buy in the USA despite them being cheaper alternatives to the original models.
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7 Chinese Copycat Cars in the USA
Weikerui V7
The very first product on the list is a prime example to gauge the talent that Chinese carmakers have. We bet even the hardcore automobile enthusiasts won’t be able to tell apart this knock-off from the original. The Weikerui V7 is a replica model of the famous VW Up. Up is a popular compact city hatchback sold in the USA and Europe. But the replica is able to imitate the grille, headlights, body panels, headlights and every other thing perfectly. It looks like a clone that was unveiled in 2017. Reportedly, VW didn’t sue them for this.
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Huansu C60
This next one on our list of Chinese copycat cars will take you a moment to connect to the original model of which this is a clone. The Huansu C60 has ‘borrowed’ a lot of design cues from the iconic Lamborghini Urus. The body panels at the front, the stance, the bumpers, and the taillights are some components that resemble the Italian performance SUV. It was priced at $20,000 which is less than 1/10th the price of the original. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the C60 is nowhere closer to being the fastest SUV in the world (which the Urus was for the longest time).
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Geely Beauty Leopard
One has to agree that the Geely Beauty Leopard is one of the not-so-successful attempts at replicating the iconic Toyota Supra. Geely already has a reputation for stealing designs of other carmakers but we have to say that this is not their finest work. The Leopard seems like a crumpled version of the Supra. Also, the design elements like the bonnet, headlights, body panels, etc. are nowhere similar to the original Japanese car.
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Geely GE
What they missed in the Beauty Leopard, they were able to fix in the GE which was later renamed Emgrand GE. The GE was announced in 2009 but the final product turned out to be a compact replica of the Rolls Royce Phantom. The long bonnet, colossal grille with vertical slats, rectangular headlamps, and stylish alloy wheels are all aimed at invoking the spirit of the Phantom. The price of this alternative was a mere $44,000 compared to the price of the original which was a jaw-dropping $350,000 in the USA. This one’s easily among the most infamous Chinese copycat cars in USA.
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BYD S8
BYD is one of the biggest EV brands in the world. However, back in 2006, it launched S8 which was originally meant to be called the F8. However, it doesn’t take too long to figure out the similarities with the Mercedes-Benz CLK. The headlights, the body panels, the long bonnet with similar characteristic creases, alloy wheels, etc are simply copied from the latter. However, the sedan came with a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine with a 0-96 km/h time of over 14 secs distancing itself away from the original Mercedes. Even the prices were between $22,000 and $37,000 in 2009 which were a fraction of what the Merc used to cost.
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K One
This next car on out list of Chinese copycat cars is also strikingly similar to a Mercedes and people would need a moment to figure out that this is not the original. The K One was a commendable knock-off of the Mercedes GLA compact SUV. The trademark grille design, the headlamps, bumper, skid plate, alloy wheels and side creases represent an ideal clone of the German SUV. However, the catch is that the K One is fully electric. It develops a modest 128 hp and weighs around 3,100 lbs (around 1,400 kg) making it have a significantly lower power-to-weight ratio.
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Chery QQ
The people who remember the Daewoo Matiz / Chevrolet Spark will instantly recognise its Chinese twin, the Chery QQ. It was later renamed QQ3. Interestingly, the QQ was announced in 2003 and Chery claimed that they had developed this independently. However, the similarities in the peculiar design are hard to ignore. GM South Korea sold the Chevrolet Spark there and GM Daewoo filed a lawsuit against Chery and won an undisclosed amount. The QQ was not sold in the USA but it managed to sell in huge numbers in China owing to being affordable. It was priced between $4,000 and $7,000 while the original model retailed for over $10,000. Which one of these Chinese copycat cars sold in the USA were you most surprised by?
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