On NAM a couple months ago someone shared a picture, which is included in this link, of a knock off Chinese MINI. Well they have been doing knock offs of Bently, Rols Royce, Toyota, Mazda, SmartCar, etc too For your viewing 'pleasure' China's copycars: familiar-looking vehicles at Shanghai Auto 2009 - Telegraph
Funny stuff. I've noticed the Koreans copying a few popular models as well, but they're much more subtle than the Chinese. Talk about blatant, direct knock-offs! Entertaining though.....love the Telegraph's captions.
The Chinese government does not take any action to stop industrial piracy. One of the main reason is that state owned enterprise in China are one of the biggest counterfeiters. The Chinese are masters of copying. Sometimes, pirated production goods are released before the genuine article even hits the market. Due in part to corporate espionage. Another reason piracy is tolerated is that in Chinese culture, pirated goods are seen as exceptable low cost alternatives to the higher priced genuine goods. This is not to say that the Chinese cannot put a stop to piracy. The government managed to keep the markets clear of counterfeit Olympic merchandise.
wat kinda funny is that some of these counter fit products are actually better made then the real thing. hahaha.
China, our good friends. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5_LLL_cqMQ]Lifang 320, MINI Cooper Knock-Off Part 1/2, Please Rate And Comment - YouTube[/ame]