Chinese copycat cars: a new era of China’s strangely familiar car designs

Wandering around the streets of China and car-spotting is a strange experience. There’s a sense of familiarity to a lot of the vehicles you see, but not the badges or the model names. 

While it appears the Chinese car industry has largely moved on from ‘copycat cars’ so egregious and blatant they’ve sometimes prompted legal action, there’s still a noticeable lack of originality, and many of the latest models still have a strong resemblance to cars from other marques. 

Many Chinese cars, particularly at the premium end of the spectrum, seem to take some inspiration from one particular source. And where they do deviate from the original vehicle, the method seems to merely involve ‘borrowing’ cues from others. 

We’ve written recently about Chinese cars needing more originality and authenticity if they’re to truly dominate the world, but for now, there’s a theme of ‘Temu Porsche/Land Rover/Rolls-Royce’ to proceedings. What’s particularly interesting is that there are a handful of European models that seem to be imitated more than others. 

Take a look through these recent examples, and you’ll see what we mean. Then, we’ll examine some of the truly shameless Chinese copycats from times gone by. 

Xiaomi SU7, SAIC Z7, Aistaland GT7 and Porsche Taycan

There are a few Porsche Taycan-like Chinese cars and we’re highlighting three of them. 

Copied: Porsche Taycan

Copycat: Xiaomi SU7

The Xiaomi SU7 is one of the most popular, and it looks the spitting image of the German EV from the side. The Ultra version also has even the Taycan Turbo GT beaten for performance - it produces about 1,500bhp and has a claimed 0-62mph time of 1.98 seconds. Which sounds like it might actually be quite unpleasant. 

Although Xiaomi has a growing vehicular side to its business, it’s primarily known around the world for consumer electronics. 

Copycat: SAIC Z7/Z7T

MG owner SAIC’s Z7 is even closer to the Taycan’s design, and shamefully, you can even have it on Mission E-style wheels, or as a Taycan Sport Turismo-style Z7T. All the details are there - the front and rear light clusters aren’t far off, and the vent placement behind the front wings is awfully Taycan. 

There isn’t an all-powerful version as there is with the Xiaomi, but the range-topper still has nearly 600bhp.

Copycat: Aistaland GT7 

Genuinely, when researching for this article, we briefly got this car mixed up with the SAIC Z7, not just because of the similar name. It’s yet another EV that apes the Taycan, specifically the Sport Turismo - there’s no saloon version. The headlights are arguably even closer to the original Taycan’s, and that rear front wing vent is present and ‘correct’. It’s available with a triple-motor powertrain and up to 758bhp. 

Although the Aistaland brand won’t mean anything to you, you will have heard of one of the companies behind it - Huawei. The tech company created Aistaland with GAC Group, which is behind the Aion brand that recently launched in the UK, and numerous joint ventures with Japanese and European manufacturers.

Zeekr 9X and Rolls-Royce Cullinan

When we first clapped eyes on the Zeekr 9X, our first thought was ‘Rolls-Royce Cullinan’. Inevitable, really, given the SUV’s imposing proportions and that enormous grille. There are shades of the Land Rover Defender in its proportions, too, though. 

The powertrain is somewhat less exotic than Rolls’ 6.6-litre V12, with the 9X hiding a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine behind that spangly grille, but that’s not the only source of power. The turbo petrol unit is part of a plug-in hybrid system available with a giant 70kWh battery pack, making for a car that weighs nearly three tonnes. Offsetting this, the 9X has up to around 1,400bhp. 

All of this sounds like a zany thing exclusive to the Chinese market, but the 9X is actually set to make its way to the UK.

Copied: Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Copycat: Zeekr 9X

Xiaomi YU7, Luxeed RX and Ferrari Purosangue 

Ferrari’s first SUV is another much-imitated car in China. 

Copied: Ferrari Purosangue

Copycat: Xiaomi YU7

Ferrari refuses to label the Purosangue as an SUV (it’s an FUV or ‘Ferrari Utility Vehicle’, apparently), and to an extent, the Italian brand has a point. Its shape is unlike anything else, being some way between a traditional SUV and an estate car, and that unique look makes it pretty obvious some homework copying was occurring when the Xiaomi YU7 was designed. 

It’s quite different from the front, admittedly, and there’s another one of those ugly LiDAR bumps at the top of the windscreen, but the side profile is rather similar, and there are the same kind of muscular rear haunches. There's no V12 under the bonnet, of course, because the YU7 is all-electric. The quickest versions are actually a smidge faster than the Purosangue to 62mph, though.

Copycat: Luxeed RX

The YU7 isn’t the only ‘Temu Purosangue’ out there. The RX from Chery brand Luxeed bears more than a passing resemblance, even if its styling is a bit softer and more generic than the Xiaomi. The lack of originality goes beyond the styling, though - Luxeed refers to the RX as a ‘Fashion Utility Vehicle’, or an FUV. Where have we heard that before?

Where the story gets particularly interesting is Luxeed executive chairman Zhao Changjiang’s claim on social media that the RX was penned by a former Ferrari chief of design, without actually giving a name. According to Chinese media, Ferrari’s Greater China PR director responded, querying exactly who Changjiang was referring to.

212 T01 and Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler might be a tough off-roader, but it's quite easy to imitate. 

Copied: Jeep Wrangler

Copycat: 212 T01

Unlike most of the cars we’re looking at here, the 212 has a lot of heritage behind it. It has military origins and first emerged in the 1960s, owing much to the Soviet GAZ-69. The civilian market is an increasing focus for the model, with ‘212’ being spun off as a brand in 2024. 

The T01 looks an awful lot like the Jeep Wrangler, and there’s even a big pick-up version that’s reminiscent of the Jeep Gladiator. 

Rox Adamas, iCaur V27 and Land Rover Defender

A frequent target for ‘inspiration’ in Chinese automotive design departments is the Land Rover Defender. 

Copied: Land Rover Defender

Copycat: Rox Adamas

The Rox Adamas (formerly the ‘01’) gets pretty close to the overall shape of the Defender. The front and rear lights get quite a different treatment from the Defender, but not in an especially original way - there’s a certain Kia look to them, to our eyes. 

Don’t expect smooth six-cylinder engines and rumbly V8s under the bonnet like the ‘real deal’, though. Like so many Chinese cars, the Adamas is powered by a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine that acts as a generator for a large (anything up to 58.4kWh) battery pack. 

Copycat: iCaur V27

iCaur is yet another Chery subsidiary, and the brand name itself is an amusing one in this context, because it’s known as iCar in its native China, something that could well result in some legal shenanigans with a certain fruit-themed tech giant. And so, iCaur it is for elsewhere in the world. 

iCar/iCaur’s V27 maybe isn’t as blatant a Defender ‘homage’ as the Rox Adamas, but it’s worth a mention, because it’s on the way to the UK. It should come as no surprise that it’s powered by a 1.5-litre engine primarily acting as a generator for a large battery pack…

Chinese copycat cars from years gone by

Below, we've listed some of the most notable Chinese copycat cars...

LandWind X7 and Range Rover Evoque

Jiangling’s LandWind X7 has long been known as a very convincing copy of the Range Rover Evoque, and although the use of a lurid green paint job was previously a major giveaway, the adoption of a far more sensible (but still rather brash) white body for the 2017 Shanghai Motor Show has made telling the two apart even more difficult.

Land Rover was so irked by the Chinese company’s behaviour that it filed for copyright infringement in 2016. The British firm recently won the case, forcing Jiangling to withdraw its copycat from the market and pay compensation to JLR.

Copycat: LandWind X7

Copied: Range Rover Evoque

Eagle and Porsche Cayman

The Eagle was a car designed to show off China’s expertise in producing electric sports cars, but there’s no getting away from which cars the designer took his cues from. 

Quite simply, the Eagle looks like a Porsche Cayman with a Ferrari F12 nose grafted on. Even the badge is a near copy of the Porsche’s iconic golden shield. There’s no flat-six, though - it’s powered by an electric powertrain.

Copycat: Eagle

Copied: Porsche Cayman

Emgrand GE and Rolls-Royce Phantom

The Zeekr X9 isn’t Geely’s first rodeo in making a Rolls-Royce-esque car. Its Emgrand GE hit the headlines in 2009 for looking a lot like a Phantom, although it was drastically restyled before going on sale.

Copycat: Emgrand GE

Copied: Rolls-Royce Phantom

Dongfeng Jingyi S50 and Volkswagen Passat

The Dongfeng Motor Corporation has a long history of joint ventures with big western marques. Honda, Nissan and Renault have all had dealings with them over the years. However, the Jingyi S50 saloon is the product of no such venture. Unless of course you count the fact its styling is apparently a homage to one of Volkswagen’s best selling cars, the Passat.

Copycat: Dongfeng Jingyi S50

Copied: Volkswagen Passat

Dongfeng Fenshen AX4 and MG GS

First unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2017, the Fenshen AX4 SUV has a fair few flashes of fellow Chinese SUV of the time, the MG GS. Starting with the large chrome fog lights in the bumper and the thin V shaped grille at the front, look at the Fenshen for long enough and the evolution from MG GS to Fenshen AX4 becomes clear. What’s more, the folks at Dongfeng didn’t stop there, keep looking at the Fenshen and you will see a whole load of SsangYong Tivoli elements in its design, too.

Copied: MG GS

BAIC BJ80 and Mercedes G-Class

Let's face it, all it was going to take was some paper and a straight edge for someone to copy the Mercedes G Class’ iconic design. Shown at the China International Automobile Exhibition a few years back, the BAIC BJ80 proved that BAIC’s designers had the necessary equipment.

Copycat: BAIC BJ80

Copied: Mercedes G-Class

FAW Besturn X40 and Mazda CX-5 

Shown at the China International Automobile Exhibition, the FAW Besturn X40 bears a striking resemblance to the Mazda CX-5. Unlike with a lot of the copycat cars on this list, however, this similarity isn’t actually that surprising when you dig into the background. Besturn makes its cars using Mazda’s older platforms, sharing technology in a similar kind of way to the VW Group and its many brands.

Copycat: FAW Besturn X40

Copied: Mazda CX-5

Zotye T600 and Volkswagen Tiguan

Zotye’s T600 was originally revealed at the Beijing Motor Show in 2015, and was immediately considered to be a doppelganger of VW Group’s Audi Q5 and Volkswagen Touareg. Fast forward to 2017 and the large SUV appeared to have morphed into a Volkswagen Tiguan. Must have been a coincidence.

Copycat: Zotye T600

Copied: Volkswagen Tiguan

Zotye SR9 and Porsche Macan

Another Zotye, another injection of déjà vu. Their SR9 was proudly on display at the 2017 Shanghai Motor Show, but if you look closely you might be able to pick up on a Porsche Macan vibe. There’s just something about the styling… and the grille… and the headlights… and the doors. We can’t quite put our finger on it, though.

Copied: Porsche Macan

Hanteng electric concept and Jaguar I-Pace

Chinese car maker Hanteng Autos is a relatively new brand, having reportedly launched in China 2016. And despite only being a fledgling company at the time, it managed to do in 12 months what took Jaguar 83 years (founded 1934), by arriving at a design eerily similar to the I-Pace with their 2017 electric concept. Uncanny. 

Copied: Jaguar I-Pace

Zotye E200 and Smart ForTwo

The Zotye E200 is a small, two-door electric car designed for the city, in the same way that the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive was a small, two-door electric car designed for the city. Brazen-facedly, Zotye also pulled the same trick back in 2015 with the E30 prototype they showcased at that year's Shanghai Motor Show.

Copied: Smart ForTwo

Lifan Xuanlang and Ford S-MAX

Exhibited at the 2017 Shanghai Motor Show, the Lifan Xuanlang MPV entered the Chinese market just a few weeks prior to the event itself. Prices stared at around 69,000 Chinese Yuan (approx £7,835), and any similarity to the Ford S-MAX is purely coincidental. Honest.

Copied: Ford S-MAX

Hongqi LS5 and Range Rover

The Hongqi LS5 proves that the Evoque isn’t the only Range Rover product China seems so keen on, but also the big daddy of the range. Sitting alongside the bizarrely-styled L5 limo, the LS5 uses the 2012 Range Rover L322 as its styling model, just stretched a bit to suit more Chinese tastes.

There’s even a hint of the Jeep Grand Cherokee at the front too. Inside, the passengers are treated to lots of luxury gizmos along with a dashboard that has a passing resemblance to – surprise, surprise – an old Range Rover’s. Under the bonnet is a turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol pushing out around 510bhp.

Copycat: Hongqi LS5

Copied: Range Rover

JAC A6 and Audi A6

While some companies won’t let on just which car they might be imitating, it seems that JAC was quite happy to own up when it badged its latest release the A6. Yes, that’s right, the A6.

Not only does it have the exact same name as the Audi A6 saloon, but it looks very similar to the 2011 model. It’s the grille and stepped headlights that really give the game away.

Copycat: JAC A6

Copied: Audi A6

BAIC X424 and Jeep Cherokee

Another model that looks more like a merging of two cars than just a single copy of one. The BAIC X424 has a hint of the Jeep Cherokee at the front with the large grille openings, while the side profile is clearly taken from the rugged Wrangler model. Perhaps the company felt that customers wouldn’t be happy with just one Jeep and instead wanted the best of both.

Copied: Jeep Cherokee

BYD S7 and Lexus RX

While some imitations are fairly obvious at a glance, others are disguised a little better. The BYD S7 may not have the look of the old Lexus RX from the front, but there’s no hiding the similarities towards the rear, with the same curved windows, small spoiler and tail-lights. BYD has done a decent job of keeping this quiet, but not good enough.

Copied: Lexus RX

Lifan 330 and MINI

The round headlights, that front grille and the cheeky hatchback shape... the Lifan 330 has more than a hint of the second-generation MINI Cooper about it. When it was launched at the 2013 Beijing Motor Show, even the press release hailed the car as fashionable, artistic and with ‘mini’ temperament. Lifan was just ahead of the British brand with the five-door bodystyle, however, but that’s no excuse.

Copied: MINI

China's copycat cars: are they legal?

There’s no doubt that Chinese brands have curbed their worst excesses in terms of copying European car designs and that is partly down to their expansion into the global market. Chinese car companies now sell cars in huge numbers across the world, they have joint ventures with numerous established global brands and they own others outright. 

Back in 2018, Auto Express spoke to Oliver Tidman, a solicitor at Edinburgh intellectual property law firm Tidman Legal, to find out what legal standing a car maker has if it thinks its design has been copied by another.

At the time, he told us: “There is no international copyright law, but there are international agreements such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. These require countries to recognise each other’s intellectual property laws. Copyright laws vary from one country to another, and while the rules may differ, the principles are similar.”

And it’s not simply a material object that would be the subject of breaking copyright law, but the original design itself. “In the UK, copyright law protects certain types of work, including artistic,” Tidman added. “In terms of car designs, it’s likely that copyright would subsist in any original 2D graphic – on a computer screen or a drawing.”

If a company does think a design has been copied, however, it’s not that easy to prove. “The company would have to prove that there has been copying by assessing the objective similarities and deciding whether those similarities are the result of independent creation, or whether the infringing design has been derived from the original design,” said our expert. “There must be a causal connection between the two works, which can be difficult to prove.”

In addition to copyright protection, it is possible to register designs. “If the design or prototype is deemed original, it is possible to obtain registered design protection for up to 25 years,” Tidman explained.

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