how can the chinese get away with this?

[url=http://blogs.motortrend.com/6245901/auto-shows/seeing-double-chinas-automotive-copycats/index.html]Seeing Double: China's Automotive Copycats | Auto Shows Blog at Motor Trend[/url]


Seriously these rip-offs are rediculous. i remember being pretty pissed when i saw hyundai biting off mercedes a few years ago but this is waaay worse. it should be illegal (not that china would follow the law anyway)

It's pointless. I mean suing them. GM did it already, and they changed their name from vhaghVHIEJBGF to vcaejfgukEB and remained producing the same car again IIRC.

I agree some chinese cars are (badly made) copies. But some are suprisingly good looking too I must say.

However some have been designed by italian styling houses so that probably explains it.

there is an upside to all this. despite being exact replicas of other cars, the build quality and finishing of these cars is really good. Chinese can make good cars if the put their mind to it. Other manufacturers can shift their productions to China or merge with chinese manufacturers.

Who cares about quality when their crash tests are such awful?

The fact of the matter is that they are not exact replicas. There is nothing they can do. Personally i don't see anything wrong with it anyway. Who are they hurting?
It would be like Sony suing Sanyo for having a name slightly similar.

This is a little more than slightly similar, though. It's not like Sony and Sanyo, it's more like Sony and sony. I figure if they want to be successful in a world market they have to do more than just this, so eventually when they get going I expect them to switch to their own work. It's kind of like India and reverse engineering pharmaceuticals. It worked fine when sold only in India, but once they wanted to sell them in a broader market they had to knock it off and become legit.

their cars look like the cheap toy version of the real thing. Which ironically is what most of their economy is built upon doing in the first place :rolleyes: The only people who are losing out are the chinese. Thank god they make good food :p

Thanks for the food comment haha...
Well, have you seen the highlights from the [URL="http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/232383/"]Beijing 2008 Autoshow[/URL]?

Several of them look pretty promising actually. Suprised me.

It can be pretty blatant like Guangzhou Honda's Linian concept compared to the new Feista.

[QUOTE=syko;800526]It can be pretty blatant like Guangzhou Honda's Linian concept compared to the new Feista.[/QUOTE]

Well, that is pretty much as much Honda's car as it is Guangzhou's car.

The new Roewe 550 and the Geely Tiger both look rather promising though

[QUOTE=nightwind;800531]Well, that is pretty much as much Honda's car as it is Guangzhou's car.

The new Roewe 550 and the Geely Tiger both look rather promising though[/QUOTE]
I've read somewhere that apparently the 550 was already under development at Rover before the chinese takeover.

Tiger is a coupe, right? aka Geely GT

If you thought the final product was bad look at what they're doing with "their" renderings.
[url=http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/19/hongqi-announces-new-photochopped-lincoln-mkt-crossover/]HongQi announces new photochopped Lincoln MKT crossover! - Autoblog[/url]

It will never ever stop...

To inject some positiveness into the thread, some chinese cars that actually don't look bad at all.

The first two pics are of Brilliance B6 Estate? I lik ethe style of the rear end, honestly I do.

[QUOTE=faksta;800708]The first two pics are of Brilliance B6 Estate? I lik ethe style of the rear end, honestly I do.[/QUOTE]
According to the article I got the pics from it's called the Brilliance Junjie Station Wagon. They may start to make decent looking cars, but names aren't their strong point still... :o

Not bad.. but not any good either. They're fairly determined to make damn sure no one can take offence at these designs... I'm bored with bland, conservative styling from cars people can afford, why can't there be...

In fact, you know what? I can't be bothered finishing this rant.

They get away with everything- this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[url=http://www.popsci.com/iclone]China's iClone | Popular Science[/url]

Here's an article if you guys are interested.

Thats ****ing mind boggling...









And pathetic...

Thanks for the link. That just makes it better.

personally i think the worst rip off is the hummer. what do you think is the most obvious rip?

[QUOTE=Ferrer;800710]According to the article I got the pics from it's called the Brilliance Junjie Station Wagon. They may start to make decent looking cars, but names aren't their strong point still... :o[/QUOTE]

That's because the name's in Chinese :) It's just another language... Go easy on it.

The problem with China, is that while it has the creative minds that gave the world gunpowder, silk, the wheelbarrow etc etc, it's also home to many greedy, lazy people who just want to earn quick money by copying other people's designs. :mad: I just hope these black sheep will eventually die out completely, and stop disgracing the chinese people

Pathetic hypocritcal bleatings which -no surprise- emanates almost exclusively from a band of new-age whingers who's disfunctional empire happens to possess its own dismal history of patent & trademark imperialism etc

Quid pro quo






(with good luck to China for a positive & successful Olympic Games)

[QUOTE=nightwind;801185]That's because the name's in Chinese :) It's just another language... Go easy on it.

The problem with China, is that while it has the creative minds that gave the world gunpowder, silk, the wheelbarrow etc etc, it's also home to many greedy, lazy people who just want to earn quick money by copying other people's designs. :mad: I just hope these black sheep will eventually die out completely, and stop disgracing the chinese people[/QUOTE]

But that's everyone. Look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis in America. That's just investors trying to make a quick buck. And everyone suffers for that.

It infuriates me futher when Geely can actually design something like this: [url=http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/22/beijing-2008-from-jeep-clones-to-this-beijing-700r-concept/2]Beijing 2008: From Jeep clones to this? Beijing 700R concept - Autoblog[/url]

But they choose to come out with all those rubbish.

[QUOTE=Ingolstadt;801265]It infuriates me futher when Geely can actually design something like this: [url=http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/22/beijing-2008-from-jeep-clones-to-this-beijing-700r-concept/2]Beijing 2008: From Jeep clones to this? Beijing 700R concept - Autoblog[/url]

But they choose to come out with all those rubbish.[/QUOTE]

Just a quick comment.

Didn't Japan copy American cars (sort of) when they first came out?

I guess they're going to have to step up in quality and safety to be respected by everyone.

Not that I'm helping the Chinese carmakers, but neither the Japanese nor the Koreans were respected when they first came out.

I guess that's because the Chinese are the pros in copying... it all starts from copying homework in school :p

Joke aside though, that the Japs copied others is true. Just a quick example. Lexus is famous for blatantly copying many features from Mercedes

I like their H1. I wonder what kind of gas mileage this one will get.

[QUOTE=nightwind;801347]
Joke aside though, that the Japs copied others is true. Just a quick example. Lexus is famous for blatantly copying many features from Mercedes[/QUOTE]

Features is one thing. Why wouldn't you take a great idea and make it better, right? As far as design is concerned though, making a visual replica of another vehicle is just plain pathetic.
Its common for technology to be copied and improved on by many manufacturers. Generally, Audi or Mercedes will come up with something, and then within a year its in 80% of the Japanese cars. Only at half the price and far less prone to malfunctioning. Us Germans seem to have great ideas as to what kind of electronics to stuff into a car next. Its only too bad we can't make them work properly (BMW I-drive comes to mind).

Umm.. actually, referring to the lexus copying mercedes case, I was talking about the design... Look at the older Lexus models... From the side and rear, it looks almost like a carbon copy of Mercedes models.

Then you go around it and it looks much uglier in front :p