Is the Chinese Auto Market Making Money With Knock-Off Chevys?

The Chevy-esque JAC Vigor. Image: JAC Motors

The world is full of copy-cats, from clothing designs to cookie-cutter houses. The automotive world is no different, with major brands all feeding off of one another’s ideas, using their engineering skills to one-up the competition by making a similar design that much better. There’s no place that exhibits this trend quite like the Chinese automotive market. And according to GM Authority, it looks like manufacturers in the Asian nation are continuing their quest to release American-esque vehicles, this time borrowed from Chevrolet’s model lineup.

The Vigor’s interior; a noticeable contrast to the Chevy Colorado’s interior. Image: JAC Motors

The Kawei Auto pickup truck, eerily reminiscent of the Ford Raptor, may have been the first Detroit truck knock-off we’ve seen this year, but its certainly not the last. According to GM Authority, Chinese-based JAC Motors also appears to be borrowing new designs from American auto makers.

It’s of importance to note that JAC Motors not only makes up part of the Asian auto market, but also exports vehicles to South America, Europe and Africa.

The vehicle in question is the JAC Vigor (the company’s only pickup truck offering), a truck very similar to the Chevy Colorado, but don’t think of its creation as a sneaky ploy by JAC Motors to steal Chevy’s designs. In fact, JAC Motors actually acknowledges the striking similarities between the two vehicles and full-on admits that the truck is based on “Chevrolet’s spacious vehicle body.”

Image: Chevrolet

Though JAC Motors doesn’t specify which Chevrolet body they’re referring to, we’re going to have to agree with our friends at GM Authority that the JAC Vigor and the Chevy Colorado are extremely similar in exterior design.

The 2015 Chevy Colorado’s interior. Image: Chevrolet

What isn’t overly similar, however, is the Vigor’s interior, one that looks to have more of an early media center design at its heart.

Also slightly different are the engine options, which consist of a “self-developed” JAC 4DA1 inline-4 turbocharged diesel engine and a Toyota 491QE inline-4 fuel-injected engine.

The 2015 Chevy Colorado will be offering a 2.5L inline-4, 3.6L V6 and a 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine.

The similarities between the two models are blatantly obvious, but according to GM Authority’s conversation with IHS Automotive Senior Analyst Stephanie Brinely, “It doesn’t hurt the brands outside of China and isn’t even much of an issue there.” So who are we to judge?

All we can say is the Vigor isn’t the only Chevy-esque model in JAC Motors’ stable. Just check out the Spark-like JAC J2 Sedan and Cruze-like J5 to see what we mean!