Beijing Knockoffs

Copycat cars are surprisingly hard to find at this year's Beijing Auto Show.

Not long ago, attending an auto show in China meant walking past aisle upon aisle of Chinese-built cars that were flagrant copies of Japanese and European models. But this year, as our team walked the convention center looking for knockoffs, we actually had a difficult time putting a group together. We did, however, manage to find these.

BYD S

BYD S8

By far the best knockoffs are the BYD S8, the Huanhai Landscape VA3 and the Lifan 320. The S8 has been around since we started covering Chinese auto shows a few years back. Its wedge shape and pair of twin oval lights make the BYD S8 extremely reminiscent of the first generation Mercedes-Benz SLK.

Huanhai Landscape VA3 / Lifan 320

Huanhai Landscape VA3

Walk over to the Huanhai Landscape VA3, and you’ll think it’s the Lexus RX SUV. In fact, we don’t think there’s been one single change to the styling. And if there is has been one, we can’t pick it out. And then there’s the Lifan 320. It tries to be a Mini Cooper, except the proportions are a bit off. It has a slightly longer front end, and those Hello Kitty seat covers are a dead giveaway that this is not the Mini Cooper that we know and love.

BAIC C60 / Brilliance Auto wagon

BAIC-C60

The last two were a little harder to find. The first, the BAIC C60, has some hints of the Saab 9-5. The tall greenhouse and rounded front and rear are reminiscent of the previous generation 9-5 sedan. No surprise, then, to learn that BAIC purchased the rights to the old 9-5 platform before Saab was recently sold to Spyker. As for the Brilliance Auto wagon, it too looks like a Swede. Squint your eyes a bit and you’ll see a high-riding Volvo Cross Country wagon, with lower body cladding that looks like it has been pulled straight from that car.

It would be fair to say that the BAIC C60 and the Brilliance Auto wagon aren’t exactly knockoffs, and the fact that we’ve included them here points to what is perhaps the beginning of the end for the Chinese Copycat era. China has clearly made significant strides in building cars that are attractive and original, and when we walk the aisles of the next major car show in China, those strange Copycat cars will be harder than ever to find.

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