The Chinese car industry has made leaps and bounds over the last two decades. In 2022, some of the world’s most exciting and innovative vehicles are coming out of the Middle Kingdom – but it seems the spectre of automotive plagiarism still haunts China.
Chinese automaker Dongfeng – one of the ‘Big Four’ Chinese state-owned car manufacturers along with Changan, FAW and SAIC (who own MG) – is working on a new electric version of their Mengshi (or ‘Warrior’) SUV, according to photos leaked to the Chinese online portal Sohu.
Tentatively designated the Warrior M20, it’s a tough-looking car, with a tough stance, cool external ladder and huge ride height. But we can’t help but feel as if it’s a bit of a Hummer rip-off. Really, it rips off Hummer twice.
Firstly, it rips off the design of the original AM General Humvee / Hummer – although not quite as blatantly as previous Dongfeng Warriors, which have been of the world’s most notorious Humvee clones. Indeed, the new Warrior M20 EV has more than a little Lamborghini LM002 DNA, at least to our eyes…
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But then, when you consider that General Motors has rebooted the Hummer brand as a purely EV venture with the new GMC Hummer EV supertruck – and that the M20 also looks a bit like that car… It gets a little uncanny.
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The real twist in the tale is that the plagia-riffic Dongfeng Warrior M20 EV seems as if it’ll actually outperform the new Hummer.
As CarExpert explains, the Dongfeng will reportedly produce 800kW of power compared to the GMC Hummer EV’s 745kW in Edition 1 guise, and in a twist for a large EV, it’ll weigh 380kg less than the Warrior M50 – and therefore almost a tonne less than the Hummer EV.
Dongfeng reportedly have plans to introduce an electric truck, too – so watch out, Tesla…
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