Ladies and Gents, one of the hits of the 2008 Beijing Motor Show, let me introduce to you the Lifan 320.

Allow me to wish BMW's lawyers the best of luck in stopping this one.

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

kids these days......wat fools.if your gonna make a car inspired by a mini, at least make it look good.

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1975 Leyland Mini: 1060cc - resto/ ex-hsc project.

its an insipid copy of an insipid copy of a true classic

true that

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1975 Leyland Mini: 1060cc - resto/ ex-hsc project.

The Chinese copied Disneyland entirely, including all the characters, and there's nothing you can do against the most populous nation on earth. Good on 'em, I say. The MINI is too expensive, too fat and too complicated to be a moral successor to the original; perhaps this one is cheap transport for families? Sure is ugly though.

hmmm Lifan aye.

Did you know these guys made pitbike engines. My last minibike had a 138cc Lifan engine. Great quality engine too.

Ugly as sin! Heh Heh, let's see BMW's army of lawyers try and sue 'em. Should be funny.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

I can imagine one of these cars pulling up at the lights with the engine sounding like the Crazy Frog ringtone

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Too many cars, and too little time.

I am usually biased in saying to my wife (who is chinese) the quality of Chinese made gadgets aren't good, and she would always argue.
But my father-in-law bought over a Chinese-brand DVD player and an induction cooker from China to Sydney a couple of months ago. And I think I have to say the quality is as top as you can get. If I wasn't told I think these are made in Japan. My view has changed a lot.

The DVD player only costs AUS $40. Very very very thin. You can play any region DVDs you have, any computer format movies/clips. Have sockets for USB, SD card insert, etc. I even deliberately scratch a DVD with a paper clip, and it can still play it. But couldn't play the same DVD on my dad's locally bought Sony DVD player.

So you have to really drive this car to prove whether it is better than the Bini. But I must admit that copying others idea are illegal. But...it doens't look like to me BMW can do much about it, and i think BWM just doesn't have a game to match.

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1964 Morris Mini 850 - G13b gti powered - classic yet practical
1968 Morris Minimatic - 1100cc - classic & breakable
Sun Certified Java Programmer v5 310-055

No one is saying anything about whether it is better than a BINI, and I doubt anyone would argue the point that it is (except maybe BIAM and his mate tiny ) BTW, my next DVD isn't going to be a brand name one.

It's an ugly knock off, and there is heaps of it going on in the chinese car industry. A few makers have tried to sue with no victories to date - GM tried to sue about a Matiz copy, and even claimed that the chinese manufacturer used their cars to conduct the crash testing!

The problem that I have with it is that it threatens the car industry as the chinese gain an advantage by not having to carry the R&D costs in their vehicle.

Check out this smart /harley davidson knock off...

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

The difference is that a DVD player (unless you're very unlucky) won't kill you in a low speed crash.

It's already happening though that the copies & counterfiets are disappearring and the originally styled (if a little derivitave) models are coming through.

At the same time the quality and safety will improve. I've owned a couple of Chinese motorbikes in the past 5 years and I'd not recommend buying a Chinese car at the moment if the bikes are anything to go by.

The better makers are the ones with long term joint venture partnerships with VW, GM, Honda, Toyota, etc, they are already using the knowledge gained from making local versions of foreign cars and bringing it to bear on their own models.

I'll admit to not knowing much about Lifan other than that they make a lot of motorbikes and scooters, I don't think they've had a joint venture partner with a western or jap car maker so i'd be very wary.

However if SAIC/Nanjing/Roewe wanted to sell me a Chinese built Rover 75 (Roewe 750 i think they call them) for a $15,000, i might be interested. German engineered, british designed and made in China - the only question is about the quality of the components...(OK, I'll get my slippers...)

I used to ride along on my Chinese bikes and hear random 'pings' and 'plonks' of various nuts and bolts flinging themselves off or off the spokes breaking sporadically (funny how the replacement Honda spokes never broke...)

I've got no problem with he DVD players, mp3 players cheap TVs, etc, they are disposable and cost less than the media to play on them. Most electrical or electronis items I own are Chinese made these days (apart from LCD panel) and I have few (no)complaints.

Cars are a completely different kettle of fish and require dealer backup and parts and have to meet our safety and environmental regulations. Also takes a long time to build up reputation in an industry where it is very important, but in 15-20 years a good portion of Aussies will be driving Cherys, Lifans, Great Walls and the like, no different to those driving Hyundais, Kias, Hondas etc today