Fake In China: A Land Rover You Can (But Maybe Should Not) Drink

China is the land where you have a choice of two kinds of Red Bull, both equally fake. The Austrian maker of the stuff has been in court for years, did win, and still can’t sell the original stuff in China, because the other party appealed. Now, Jaguar Land Rover is faced with starting its own arduous battle against the fakers: There is an energy drink called “Land Rover.”

Read more
Fake In China: Lamborghini Diablo Goes To Hell

Remember the DIY Lamborghini? In a garage somewhere in the less picturesque parts of Beijing, a man built a Lamborghini Diablo replica, fiberglass on hand-welded frame. No industrious Chinese will allow something like that to be forgotten as a one-off lunatic hobby project. Half a year later …

Read more
Fake In China: The $6,700 Eight Seater Cadillac. Or: What Would Have Happened Without The Bailout

China’s most popular color

Forget the ATS. Now you can show that you are fiscally prudent and still project the Cadillac look. All you need is a ticket to China and $6,700 in pocket money. This will buy you the Guizhou Hangtian Chenggong (never mind) GHT6400. Says Carnewschina (buy Tycho a beer as a thank you for finding this Asian beauty):

Read more
Fake In China: Shaanxi Hearts Escalade

Members of the Chinese car industry are busy hiring foreign engineers and designers. That trend apparently has not reached China’s Shaanxi Province yet. The province is home to state-owned conglomerate Shaanxi Victory. It’s automotive4 division made unremarkable trucks and vans. Very few knew of this venture. Now, Shaanxi is famous all the way to Detroit. The company copied the Cadillac Escalade as the master design for its new S102.

Read more
Fake In China: Amarok, What Are You?

“An almost 100% perfect copy of the Volkswagen Amarok, which is actually and only made in Argentina” has been spotted in China by Carnewschina. The Hengtian T3 will slot above the Hengtian T1. That one drew its design cues from Chevy trucks, now it’s Volkswagen’s turn to inspire.

Read more
Fake In China: BYD To Lexus Conversion Kit, Yours For Only $95

Everybody in the business knows that the BYD S6 SUV is a blatant copy of the last generation Lexus RX350 SUV. The rip-off is so blatant that BYD even registered a European patent for their carbon copy. If you don’t look close enough, pretty much the only parts that differ are the grille and some BYD badges. Mei wen ti! No problem!

Read more
Fake In China: Beijing Auto Claims Patent To G-Wagen Design

Beijing Auto is working on a new BJ80V4x4. The old one was based on the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee. In a legit way: The Cherokee was brought in by the joint venture with AMC and later Chrysler. After that fell apart, Chrysler left the tooling behind in Beijing. The new B80V seems to be heavily inspired by yet another 4×4 classic:

Read more
Fake In China: Jeep Beer. We Kid You Not

I assume the Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton law firm that handles Chrysler’s trademark litigation is already on its way to China. If not, they will be calling the travel agent after reading this.

What do you think would happen if Chrysler would license its Jeep brand to a beer? It appears as if Chrysler did just that in China.

Read more
Fake In China: Rolls-Royce Phantom For $39,000

No, this is not a 1961 Rolls Royce Phantom. Fooled you. It is a ‘wedding car’ made by a Chinese company called Qingdao Soar Automobile. According to Carnewschina (which has more pictures,)

Read more
  • Cprescott Good old days of Volvo. Can't say tht about their current garbage.
  • Cprescott Wasn't Heir Yutz affiliated with this company. He has the reverse midas touch.
  • Master Baiter I actually received an engineering job offer from Fisker in early 2021. Glad I declined it...
  • Bryan The simple fact that the Honda has a CVT & the Toyota doesn't was more than enough for me to pick the Toyota for both of my daughters.
  • Theflyersfan This wagon was a survivor! These and the Benzes of that era were the take it out back and shoot it (or until you needed a part that was worth more than the car) to get rid of it. But I don't think there will be Junkyard Finds with Volvos or Benzes from this era with 900,000 miles on them. Not with everything tied to touchscreens and components tied to one system. When these screens and the computers that run them flake out, that might be the end of the car. And is any automaker going to provide system boards, memory modules, graphics cards, etc., for the central touchscreens that controls the entire car? Don't know. The aftermarket might, but it won't be cheap.