The BAW B90 - a tribute to the Range Rover
BAW (Beijing Auto Works) are to debut a Range Rover ‘Homage’ SUV – the BAW90 – and a Jeep ‘Homage’ SUV – the BAW B40 – at the Beijing Motor Show.
And you thought it was going to be 2012 until we saw the new generation of lighter, more efficient SUVs from Land Rover. So what’s going on with a new Range Rover at the Beijing Motor Show? As you probably guessed, we’re back to Chinese clones.
We did think the Chinese car makers were backing away from cloning – or ‘Paying Homage’ to – the products of the West’s car makers, especially after Geely decided to de-clone the Geely GE Rolls Royce Phantom clone. But it looks like BAW (Beijing Auto Works) are still up for churning out a clone or two to grab the attention of the domestic market.
The photo at the top is on a billboard in Beijing advertising the launch of the BAW B90 at the Beijing Motor Show this month. And it’s clearly a Range Rover-esque SUV aimed to pique the interest of the Chinese car buyer. Will the BAW B90 see the light of day in the West? Not a chance. But with a vast domestic market that really doesn’t matter to BAW.
And in case Land Rover feel victimised by this plagiarism, there’s no need. BAW are happily cloning Jeep as well with the BAW B40.
No word on prices or spec, but we guess they’ll be on the cheap side and probably fitted with a 1.5 litre 4-pot.
Source: China Car Times
Elaine Usletten says
kinda cool
jack says
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF JOURNALISTS PROMOTING PUBLIC IGNORANCE WITH THESE IRRESPONSIBLE CLAIMS ABOUT A CAR, ESPECIALLY A CHINESE CAR, SIMPLY BASED ON ONE NON-DESCRIPTIVE PHOTO. TO TAKE IT AS FAR AS SAYING THIS CAR ‘PLAGIARIZES’ LAND ROVER…WHAT’S THE BASIS??? IT WILL BE NICE TO SEE JOURNALIST BE MORE RESPONSIBLE WITH WHAT THEY WRITE, AND REALLY LOOK AT THE CAR IN DETAIL BEFORE THEY THROW OUT STUFF LIKE THAT. CARRY A LITTLE INTEGRITY, BE A LITTLE LESS BIAS IN YOUR PERSPECTIVE ABOUT CHINESE CARS. IF WE USE YOUR WAY TO MEASURING CAR DESIGN, THEN PRETTY MUCH ALL CARS OUT THERE ARE CLONES OF EACH OTHER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
CarsUK says
Sorry Jack, but we’re not promoting public ignorance. A huge number of cars in your country are plagiarised designs from successful Western cars. On this specific example BAW themselves said “…resembles a Land Rover style, body dominated by straight lines and edges.” Which is pretty much making it clear.
But don’t think we don’t admire a lot of the stuff that is being done in China at the moment. We do. And if you took the time to read more on Cars UK you would know that. And that we write responsibly and truthfully.
jack says
“A huge number of cars in your country are plagiarised designs from successful Western cars”…LET ME UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY…SO YOU’RE JUST GENERALIZING AND STEREOTYPING AS THE BASIS OF JUDGING THIS PARTICULAR CAR, OR ANY CARS COMING FROM CHINA?
AS I RECALL, THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘PLAGIARISE’ AND ‘RESEMBLE’. THE ORIGINAL LEXUS LS 400 ‘RESEMBLED’ THE MB S-CLASS. THE ASTON MARTIN DB-9 AND THE JAGUAR XK ‘FEELS’ SIMILAR. THE QUESTION IS, DOES THIS B90 SUV ‘LOOK’ LIKE A LAND ROVER, OR ‘FEELS’ LIKE A LAND ROVER? AND TO WHICH MODEL? DOES IT ‘PLAGIARIZE’ A LR, OR ‘RESEMBLE’ ONE? YES, BAW THEMSELVES SAID ‘…RESEMBLES A LR STYLE…’ BECAUSE LR IS THE MOST LUXURIOUS AND EXPENSIVE SUVS IN THE WORLD. THAT IS JUST COMMON SENSE. BUT TO SAY THAT IT ‘PLAGIARIZES’ THE LR IS VERY IRRESPONSIBLE.
FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, THE TERM ‘PLAGIARISM’ MEANS, SAY YOUR BUDDY DID HIS HOMEWORK FOR SCHOOL, AND YOU TAKE IT AND COPY IT WORD-FOR-WORD. THAT’S PLAGIARISM. WHAT YOU ARE SUGGESTING BY USING THE WORK ‘PLAGIARISM’ IS EXACTLY THAT, AND I DONT BELIEVE THIS IS WHATS HAPPENED HERE. SO NO, BAW DID NOT MAKE IT CLEAR ON YOUR ‘PLAGIARISM’ CLAIM.
IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU ADMIRING THIS CAR OR NOT, BUT THE WORDS YOU USE IN AN ARTICLE OF A PUBLISHED WEBSITE MUST CARRY MORE RESPONSIBILITY THAT, SAY, BLOGS OR FORUMS.
CarsUK says
In one sense you may be right. To acknowledge that this car is meant to look like a Land Rover BAW are actually removing the plagiarism tag. Because plagiarism isn’t copying, it’s the unattributed use of the ideas of others. We won’t get in to a long debate on this, but by acknowledging that they have created a LR look-alike they are not committing plagiarism. They are simply declaring their design as unoriginal. If you want a clear indication of plagiarism look at the Geely GE. Interestingly – now Geely want to play with the big boys – they have undone the RR plagiarism.
We re-iterate: We admire hugely what the Chinese Motor Industry is achieving. We have a lot of respect for the technology being developed by companies like BYD. But we do take issue with the plagiarism (or, if you prefer, derivative nature) of Chinese cars. Solve that and be original with designs that have global appeal and the Chinese motor industry will be unstoppable. Emulate what the Koreans are doing with original designs.