They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but to what lengths must a company go before flattery induces head-shaking? In the case of the Wuling City Car, it’s quite profound.
We “get” China: it has an emerging industry that may not yet have the equity to show its chops just yet − Japan went through the same thing in the 1950s. However, several Chinese automakers don’t even try to hide the fact that they’ve been influenced by other cars. In the case of the Wuling City Car, an EV that is expected to hit the Chinese market next year, it’s practically a knock-off of the BMW i3.
Of course, Wuling is part of the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture. Why General Motors is involved in such a knock-off is beyond us, but we count our blessings the Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac vehicles produced by the joint venture are all-GM.
Comment
The Chinese are definitely not global-leading and will be some time before they are in that race. But GM has nothing to do with thus effort and gas little say or power to stop it, at least in the short term. Welcome to business in China.