Having conquered the $20 Rolex watch market, in recent years Chinese manufacturers have taken to cloning cars from other companies. The Chery QQ was one of the most brazen copies so far, but there now appears to be an closer copy of another car. German site Sueddeutsche.de is reporting that Chinese car-maker CMEC has produced an new 2-seater electric car that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Smart ForTwo. The yellow car in the photo is the CMEC version, the dark blue is the Smart. They even call it the Electric City Smart. The ForTwo was originally called the Smart City Car before other Smart models were introduced and then discontinued. The CMEC car apparently has a range of 60 miles and is designed for export to Europe. General Motors was unsuccessful in trying to sue Chery for copying the Daewoo Matiz, however if the CMEC vehicle is exported outside of China, DaimlerChrysler will certainly be all over it with their lawyers.
[Source Sueddeutsche.de via GreenCarCongress]
1. If chinese manufacturers can make a decent electric City Car at a reasonable price - and I am sure they can - I would buy one. But not when it looks like a fake SMART. I have seen cute prototypes styled for chinese manufacturers by Giugiaro, that are far more attractive than the original Smart. So wait...
Wolf Sator http://tinyurl.com/3y95j9
Posted at 12:41AM on Oct 14th 2007 by wolfsator