China and Ripping Car Designs

tvr

Just back from China and am staggered at the amount of cars that are being ripped by Chinese firms . I knew it was going on re the GM Matiz , ie the doors fitted were the same could be fitted to the GM or the Chinese model.

But looking around it would seem to me its everywhere,


Any fancing , albeit the technology is probably woeful , a ripped land cruiser for a tenth of the price . wonder what the vrt . found a few pictures of the firms online . Fuqui is the brand.






Then another company ripping the old rav 4

cjt156

Saw the same thing in Korea, apparantly there's a huge tariff on importing foreign-made vehicles (maybe our VRT gave them the idea). You pass a 7-Series or a S-class and go "Oooh is that a new model...oh no its a SSYonggtrang Mingbong..."
And 90% of cars are black, white or silver. Different strokes...

ongarite

They also have diabolical crash safety. There is a video on youtube of a Frontera rip-off called Landwind and its damn scary watching it hit the concrete barrier. I scored so badly its been banned for sale in Europe and US.

Youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVwmuQqN46g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9OlxjkInWg

tvr

I thought the CMEC was particularly good, it was electric too, interesting to see if actually has the same crash protection as a real Smart. I doubt you good crash it into a s class like the real smart and still walk away. some of the bmw ones like good as well.

peasant

tvr wrote:

I thought the CMEC was particularly goods as well electric too, interesting to see if actually has the same crash protection as a real Smart. I doubt you good crash it into a s class like the real smart and still walk away. some of the bmw ones like good as well.

Several car companies have had manufacturing facilities in China for quite a while.

Some just assemble kits shipped in (like BMW), others build older models that have gone out of production with the original tools and forms that were shipped to China ...the VW Shanghai Santana for example.

I doubt that the Chinese just ripped off the Smart, they're probably making it under licence. Smart probably wouldn't sneeze at a steady stream of royalties, considering how poorly their sales are going over here

Cardinal

That Smart car rip off is not being made under licence. They significantly changed the interior in the hopes of avoiding legal action. I read on Engadget that this CMEC car is due for sale in Britain soon.

G Luxel

Rovers are soon to be built there, initially the 75 with a bigger grille. It isnt the first time a british car has been built there. There was also the Morris Marina/Ital in the 90s but I dont know if it is still being made or not.

The Smart car is just a copy, not under licence, and if it was sold here it could be priced at something like 2,000 euros.

Volkswagens have been built there since the 80s, as a venture with FAW (First Auto Works). This company built limousines for the Communist party.
It was called the Hongqi. There is a new Hongqi available soon and is an over chromed Rolls Royce Phantom with extremely large front grille.
The Passat Santana is still being built in China, as is a peugeot 307 saloon and a Citroen Xsara saloon/zx saloon that was never available in Europe.

junkyard

And here it is, believe it or not.:o

peasant

OMG ...the front of that Chinese Lolls-Loyce is just ...well beyond words really :eek:

junkyard

Needless to say the Italians have nothing to fear as regards Chinese styling, it really is up their @rse.:D

Do-more

If anybody wants to start importing any of these vehicles, you could contact this crowd!

HRBF

Chonker

junkyard wrote:

Needless to say the Italians have nothing to fear as regards Chinese styling, it really is up their @rse.:D

Chinese are not great at designing, but they are masters or copying. give them time and they will get their cars right.

I drove an S class type car over there about two years ago and it was terrible, the same company brought out its new model this year and I'm told its pretty good.

Inventing technology is what the Japs-Germans do best, ripping off that technology is what the Chinese do better. Let them at it I say!

zilog_jones

They gotta start off somehow
Nissan were making semi-legitimate Austin 7s in the 1930s - it wasn't until the '50s when they started designing their own cars. Isuzu started off with help from Woleseley. Hyundai started off making Ford Cortina clones, and Daewoo worked with Toyota before making the Kadett and Ascona knock-offs we saw in Europe.

So, apparently most Asian car companies started off with other people's designs. Except for Toyota O_o

G Luxel

zilog_jones wrote:

They gotta start off somehow
Nissan were making semi-legitimate Austin 7s in the 1930s - it wasn't until the '50s when they started designing their own cars. Isuzu started off with help from Woleseley. Hyundai started off making Ford Cortina clones, and Daewoo worked with Toyota before making the Kadett and Ascona knock-offs we saw in Europe.

So, apparently most Asian car companies started off with other people's designs. Except for Toyota O_o

Nissan made the Austin A40 Somerset under licence as a bluebird. The bluebird name reappeared in 2000 on the Almera sedan with a large chrome grille. The isuzu originally built Hillman Minx's from the late 50s to early 60s, again under licence. Hyundai's first car was a Pony, which looks more like a nissan cherry hatchback but one of its executives, George Turnbull, had already overseen British Leyland during the 60s. Daewoo began building Opel Senators and Astras. The Senator was called the Prince and the 85 kadett was also sold in America as a Pontiac Le Mans.

peasant

Ah well ...boardsters beloved BMW started off their car manufacturing with the "Dixie", a licence build of the Austin 7

http://www.autocollections.com/image/cars/1926%20bmw%20dixie.jpg

Gatster

"Dixie"

LOL - The Ultimate Driving Machine