All the defender copies made throughout the world
July 25th, 2023
Boxy Shape, Bold Stance, Huge Presence and a Mighty Engine why would people not like a car having these characteristics. The whole perspective of a SUV has changed, people are rapidly shifting towards Rugged, Robust and Handsome looking SUVs. They no longer want or aspire to own a SUV having soft curves which define its beauty, they need rough edges and a sense of security from a SUV now-a-days.
Land Rover Defender
Defender is one of them. Since Land Rover launched the new generation Defender, people’s demand for this SUV has broken all the records. People are loving what this SUV has to offer - Good enough Luxury, Unbeatable Off-Road capabilities and Dashing presence. Its price is not really making people think twice before buying one, they just want it. Well, we can say that people’s gradual transition from luxurious sedans to luxurious off-road SUVs, since the past few decades holds a majority stake behind Defender’s success.
Well, as they say, there’s nothing wrong with taking full advantage of an open opportunity. And that’s what other brands did. Just like Land Rover brands like Lexus, Kia, Suzuki, etc. who never made a SUV with boxy elementals, even they had to step into this universe of Boxy SUVs, by bringing in their own iteration of a boxy SUV.
And, here’s a catch, there are many brands like these who brought in their own kind of boxy SUVs but there are even some brands who decided why to take a longer and costlier route to make a bold SUV, why not just pick one of them, make some changes and push it out.
And this brings us to the topic of this blog - All the Defender copies made throughout the world.
Let’s start with the Factory of Copycats - China.
The reality that Chinese brands make some pathetic knock-offs of some great cars is not shocking anymore. They have been doing this for long enough to make us think, “it’s just another Tuesday”.
Starting with -
STONE 01
Now if you are new to this brand, then basically this is a sub brand of the Chinese state owned company, BAIC ( Beijing Automotive Co. Ltd. ). Earlier, Rox Motor was actually the owner of the brand under Stone which was actually known as Luo Ke back then until BAIC acquired it and rechristened the brand as ‘Stone’.
Stone 01 - Front Profile
By looking at the design we can clearly see that it is a complete copy of the Land Rover Defender.
Design elements similar to the Defender -
The overall proportion of the car.
Front Grill.
The alloy wheels design.
The side curtain element below the A-pillar.
The tailgate mounted spare wheel.
Rear shoulder line.
And if observed closely it has also taken some bits from the Land Rover Range rover and the newly unveiled Lexus GX. Like -
The window area and rear tail light design is similar to the one in the Land Rover Range Rover.
The headlights are exactly similar to the one in the Lexus GX.
Lexus GX
Stone 01 - Rear Profile
It’s speculated to be available with 2 variants. It will be powered through a Petrol hybrid engine, 1.5 L Turbo Petrol Hybrid engine → 201 hp and 268 hp. The Stone 01 is set to launch by the end of this year.
Prices have not been revealed yet but expected price is $ 80,000 ( if launched in India it will priced around ₹ 1 crore ).
JETOUR TRAVELLER
This is a sub-brand of a Chinese state owned company Chery. Jetour’s Traveller is an off-road oriented SUV. The SUV looks quite similar to the Defender. It carries the proportions of the Defender but, design wise it differs quite a bit. The huge stance like the Defender has been used to give it that rugged SUV look.
Jetour Traveller - Side Profile
Things similar to the Defender -
Overall boxy design language.
Tailgate mounted spare wheel.
Rear shoulder line.
Wheel arches.
Jetour Traveller - Rear Profile
Now, the similarities might be less but, when all these are used together it makes it look like the Defender as we can see.
But, we can also notice some Kia’s EV9 bits in this car like the D-pillar window line angle and the flow of design from the front till the rear. The designer who designed the car, Hakan Saracoglu, a former Porsche designer, who participated in designing the 918 Spyder and the Cayman .
Jetour Traveller - Diagonal Profile
Its powered with total of 3 engine options -
1.6 L Turbocharged Petrol engine - 7 speed DCT
2.0 L Turbocharged Petrol engine - 8 speed AMT
1.5 L Turbocharged Petrol Hybrid engine
Jetour launched the Traveller in the month of May this year.
This SUV has been priced at $ 30,000 ( If launched in India it will cost about ₹ 60 Lakhs ).
YANGWANG U8
Yangwang is a sub-brand of the Chinese giant BYD. It is set to enter the Luxury SUV segment with its U8 and U9 model. ( U8 is a SUV and U9 is a sports car )
Yangwang U8 & U9 launch event
The U8, as said by the officials, is catering to the Luxury off-road oriented buyers. The U8 resembles the Defender touch in its design cleverly. It carries the essence of the Defender through all sides as seen in the images.
Yangwang U8 - Diagonal Profile
Things similar to the Defender -
Overall shape of the car.
Window line.
Wheel arches.
D-pillar design element.
Chunky ORVMs.
Tailgate mounted spare wheel.
Rear shoulder line.
Now to differentiate it with the Defender the brand has also made some changes, just by copying other cars like the Nissan Patrol. We can see the headlight shape is similar to the Patrol’s and we can also find the Patrol somewhere in the rest of the design.
But, its capabilities are way superior compared to every car mentioned in this article including Defender. The brand has taken its off-roading abilities to a supreme level →
Tank Turn - It can turn 360 degrees at the exact place without moving forward or backward. ( comes in the new Mercedes EQG )
Crab Walk - It can move diagonally forward or backward, as its all four wheels can independently turn themselves. ( comes in the new GMC’s Hummer )
It can almost swim - It has the most amount of water wading capacity than any car mentioned in this segment - 1000mm, which makes it go deeper into the water. But, when a car goes deep into the water it starts to float and once this car starts to float, the wheels start rotating to navigate the car out of the water crossing like propellers.
It has also got a Super Intelligent ADAS with a total of 3 LiDAR sensors are 16 cameras to function its mechanism.
When it comes to powertrain there’s a surprise because under the hood there’s no engine present, which makes it the only Electric SUV among all the SUV’s mentioned in the article. But, if you are thinking that being an electric SUV it won't be as fun as having a gasoline powered Off-roader, then it's a hard no!! Because, all its four wheels have been fitted with independent motors which makes it produce 300 hp in each wheel and the overall output comes in as a whopping 1100 bhp and 1300 Nm of Torque. It will also be the first Ladder on Frame electric SUV.
Yangwang U8 Chassis
It will be priced at about $ 160,000 ( If launched in India it will be available at ₹ 3 Crores ). It is claimed to be launched in the month of August, 2023 in china.
Now all of these were some Chinese knockoffs which didn't really bother us much. But its not like only Chinese brands have made some knockoffs. There are two more brands which I decided to talk about at last.
HYUNDAI SANTA FE
Hyundai recently unveiled its new Santa Fe globally by launching a few of its pictures. And all of them tell us how wildly the car has been influenced by the Defender. The design of the Santa Fe has been altered by the brand as it used to look completely opposite to what it looks right now.
Hyundai Santa Fe
We can spot out tons of areas where it has derived its design from the defender. The overall stance of the car showcases the presence of the Defender’s shadow. One would have not been able to identify whether its a Defender or a Santa Fe, if Hyundai would have added a tailgate mounted spare wheel.
Hyundai Santa Fe
Things similar to the Defender -
The boxy elements in the design.
Front Bumper.
Thick wheel arches.
Straight lines running from the front to rear.
D-pillar design element.
The 90 degree cut for the rear Tailgate.
Hyundai is willing to set vehicle as a family mover, which could be used on long journeys. According to Hyundai the Santa Fe has "Class-Leading" space. The Santa Fe is about to be globally revealed in the month of August, 2023. No such Information has been revealed about Engines, Price and Launch date.
Summing it up, all these cars might be great in terms of what they offer but, let's not forget that they could have brought in their own design to spice up the competition a bit. Though, they didn’t! They instead decided to take the easy and not so appreciated way. They still tried to differ their products from the Defender by adding some great technologies. But, come on, we all know who’s the real Big Daddy of SUVs!