Honestly, now-a-days the Chinese Auto Industry and ‘Copy’ have started to sound similar, and that is because of one clear reason which is, their undying habit of making terrible knockoffs of few of the best vehicles. Here we come again because today we are going to talk about Fang Cheng Bao’s Leopard 5, a car which is definitely not ashamed of being a Land Rover Defender knockoff.

Well, if you don't know or have heard for the first time about Fang Cheng Bao, then don’t worry it is just another sub brand of the Chinese Tech Giant, BYD. It has been very popular in giving births to numerous Automobile companies, for instance, it has already founded Five of such companies - Dynasty series, Ocean series, Denza, BYD Auto and Yang Wang, Fang Cheng Bao is a new addition to the list, which ultimately makes six Automobile companies, that is insane. And just for your information, even these BYD brands excluding Fang Cheng Bao, are famous for copying other International cars too. So, it is not a new thing.

Still, coming to the nucleus of the matter, Fang Cheng Bao’s Leopard 5. Well, for starters, Fang Cheng Bao of BYD will be focusing on making Off-road and Sports cars. And an interesting fact about the Fang Cheng Bao brand is that its name itself is a synonym for ‘Formula’ and ‘Leopard’ in Chinese.

So moving on the Leopard 5, as said that Fang Cheng Bao will be making Off-road and Sports vehicles, thus, it has decided to kick off its career by launching Leopard 5 as its first vehicle. Leopard 5 is a 5-metre Off-road SUV, which is based on Yang Wang’s U8 (it is also an Off-road SUV). The Leopard 5 sits on the DMO platform sourced from BYD, which also carries the U8 from Yang Wang. This DMO platform is a great creation by BYD to be honest because it contains a lot of quirky features which we will talk about later in this article.

Exterior

The Exterior of the car is very leaned towards the off-road vehicles trend, it is boxy. The overall design of the vehicle is blocky with straight lines and minimal amount of curves or no curves at all.

Speaking of the front, the front of the car stands tall and wide. The Grille and the headlamp unit have been integrated into one single rectangular unit. The LED DRL runs throughout the border of the mentioned rectangular unit which consists of the grille and the headlight, it has been done to make the car look wider visually. Even the LED projector beams in the headlamps have been kept in a cubicle shape to enhance the boxy and tall stance of the vehicle. The lower bumper and the skid plate juts out of the primary body-line of the vehicle and it also seems that the Skid plate has been given a metallic treatment for better protection while off-roading. 

The Side of the vehicle appears to be straight, tall, and bulky. Thanks to the boxy and big wheel arches which give a rugged off-roader look to the vehicle. The car by the way, runs on 18 inch alloy wheels. Going up, we can see a chunky and big ORVM like the one in the Defender. The widow lines are straight and plain with no such inclining curves added to it. Though the D-pillar window shape somewhat reminds me of the Lexus’ GX SUV.

The rear of the car is undoubtedly pretty much Defender-like. The overall shape of the car from rear clearly resembles one of the Defender, the shoulder line, the elongated rising shape of the tailgate’s design, and even the boxy tail lights. Well, we can even say, the tailgate mounted spare wheel is like one in the Defender, but honestly, I don't mean it because the tailgate mounted spare wheel is not such a design copy, it is an overall aspect of the vehicle.

Interior

The Interior of the vehicle has not been revealed yet, but with respect to some clicked photos of the vehicle showcased, we can see that it carries the straight forward, boxy, and a simple design language in the Interior as well. We can even see that the Infotainment system has been given a floating screen treatment. The steering wheel looks chunky and bigger, which also gives a lot of room for the steering mounted controls. It was even said that this car would get a touch-screen infotainment system for the front passenger as well, though we can’t spot any of it in the given car, maybe they could get out a variant which could have it.

But, the main talking point of the interior should be the centre console, as it is a well designed and unique aspect of the vehicle. It has been given a step treatment, where the upper step consists of utility features like a Wireless Charging pad and the lower consists of bottle holders. Well, other than this, we can see all the mechanical operatives have been placed in between, where we can spot a button operated Drive Selector module, Terrain modes, and numerous other buttons for Parking Brake and rest of the features.

Dimensions

Dimensions are very important when it comes to comparing it with the Defender. A comparative table of ours can tell the difference between both the Leopard 5 and the Defender.

Powertrain

The powertrain part of the vehicle is interesting, as the Leopard 5 is a Plug-in-Hybrid car. Yes, it is! Being a Plug-in-Hybrid car, it consists of two power generators - 1.5 L Petrol engine and a Battery pack (the capacity number of the battery and the output of the 1.5 L engine are not out yet), which together puts an output of 670 hp and 760 Nm of torque. These numbers are great when compared to Defender V8 which goes up to ₹2.3 Cr in India.

Price

Well, coming to the price, as said the Defender variant which puts out almost a similar amount of power as the Leopard 5 costs up to ₹2.3 Cr in India. But, no worries, as the Leopard 5 literally costs half of it at $50,000 (if exported to India, will be priced at ₹80 lakhs).

Features

The reason for keeping the features at last is because it is very interesting. Remember, I told you about the suspension system in this vehicle, as it borrows from Yang Wang’s U8. Yes, this system in BYD terms is known as Disus-P Suspension System, which if you are not aware of then, It's basically an active height adjustable suspension system. This can literally adjust itself while the car is running  given the situation, means, that if there a puncture in one of the tyres then, it can actually adjust the height of all suspensions accordingly, so that, the punctured tyre won’t have to carry the vehicle’s weight and you also won’t feel that the tyre is punctured while driving the car.

Secondly, it also gets a Face ID sensor mounted on the A-pillar of Driver’s side. 

Rest all traditional luxury off-roader features are available like, Auto Climate Control, ADAS (most likely Level 2) , Ventilated seats, and other gimmicky features too.

Extras

Fang Cheng Bao’s officials also stated that the Leopard 5 would get 2 variants in its future, which will be named the Leopard 3 and Leopard 8. Well, now this sounds exactly like the Land Rover Defender (Defender 90,  Defender 110 and  Defender 130).

They even showcased the Leopard 8’s concept, it surely would be bigger than its siblings.