Chinese “Lifan” upcoming models

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No, this is not a joke.
Lifan is known in China for making motorcycles and not cars.
But here are some of their upcoming models.
And it is pretty much a major copy fest. You can recognize already produced models from around the world.

We’ve see this before, but it still amazes me….
The best one is the weird distorted copy of the 2008 Accord!

Conversation 17 comments

  1. Can someone please tell me why someone would want drive an imitation automobile? What is the point? It is not a handbag or some bootleg DVD you buy off the street to save money or is it?

  2. it still amazes me that people don’t know how the Chinese auto industries works.

    Since they do not have the technologies or the know-how on how to produce decent automobiles, they work (learn) through existing manufacturers.
    Because the existing manufacturers make these so called ‘copy’ cars with the Chinese company, this is why the cars all look like existing models.

    They are NOT really copies, just what was taught, or handed to them.

  3. Also the last picture of the ‘distorted’ new Accord coupe, is just an illustration of the saftely features.
    More of a photoshop pic than a production model.

  4. I know chinese laws are different, but come on! Honda should be able to sue these people for that blatant photoshopping of their Accord photo.

  5. The little red car is not a real photo. It’s a very minor Photoshop job (badges only) on a four door Citroen C1. Even the hubcaps are the same. Clearly not a real car…

  6. 9;51,

    In that respect, your wrong. These are pure copies and really illegal outside of China. You are confusing the idea of joint
    contracts between foreign autos with local joint assembly with pure copies.

  7. You think they would care about patent, trademark and copyright law? It is a communist country and they know that with billion people readied to blossom in the comsumer world market, the other countries will look the other way in order to “get a piece of the pie.” just look how the cd/dvd/software industry is dealing with it. they are two-faced, that goes with all the asians. they smile and bow in your face, but will stab you in the back if you’re not careful.

  8. 3:00 am,
    under our basic knowledge, I’d agree with you 100%. Car companies do not just hand over their blue prints. However, with great interest (making a lot of money) to sell cars in China, none of us know exactly how the contract is written between the joint effort.
    I personally do not believe China has the know-how on ‘copying’ in terms of production and manufacturing of cars, unless they already produce the product. It’s not like you can just ‘copy’ a Pontiac G8, like you would with a CD. Each part has to be made to the engineering spec, perhaps down to the millimeter or smaller.

    No one says in a Join Venture, cars HAVE to look different. For example, Honda Passport was only an Isuzu with Honda’s log all over it. Same thing with Isuzu Oasis, just an Oddyssey wearing an Isuzu badge. (Don’t forget Opel-Suzuki-Vauxhaul, Suzuki-Daewoo-Buick, Opel-Saturn-Vauxhaul, all have same cars with different badges)
    So long as both parties are on the same page, joint contract CAN also be ‘copies.’
    Beside I am sure manufacturers will sue China’s company (each other) if they have violated the agreement, which we’ve seen Smart, Honda, Toyota..etc, do in the recent years.

  9. Lifan already produce a small range of small cars that don’t look too bad or like copies of anyone elses work. I really hope they don’t do this because Chinese companies are capable of much better.

  10. Isnt what China is doing today sound a lot like what Japan did back in the 1970’s?

    Japan automobile companies started teaming up with american comapnies and began to produce cars.

    Also, back in the 1980s they would take american designs, improve them, then sell it. China will begin this phase soon, hyundai has already begun doing this.

    I laugh when I see hyundai engineering. They steal a lot of designs for exterior and powertrain.

    If people would understand how long it takes to engineer something, they would not buy a hyundai. They are stealing today. Next it will be china.

  11. That is exactly correct. Japanese stole from USA and Europe. Korean stole from USA/Europe/japan and now the chinese are stealing from USA/Europe/japan/korea. Just the way business is done in the world. And in 5 to 10 years china will have a big chunk of the market because their cars will cost less.

  12. if u look at some of the old japanese cars, u will see how similar they look to the american cars back then. then go see a older model hyundai, and u will realize how similar they look to older model toyota/hondas. it’s just the life cycle of a automaker.

    back when japanese car first became popular, if u look asian and carry a camera to a car show, the security will stop u and demands that u take out the film because they automaticlaly assume ur a japanese working for honda/toyota/nissan. if u show ur passport and prove that ur an immigrant or from other countries such as honkong china korea etc. they will let u go. if ur passport says ur from japan, it’s out of the door for u. today’s chinese automakers are simply following the formulas that the japanese and koreans used back when they were struggling to stay alive.

  13. lol, and this comes right from the Lifan website… apparantly the company constantly reminds employees of the following: “No Famous Brand ,our motorcycles are just like a pile of scrap iron.”, “If you do not work hard today,you will seek for job very hard tomorrow.” and “to stick on R&D,we shall have our meat.”

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