[dmitra]

Nostalgia Street: Honda CR-V and its clones

Browsing through some old documents, I was reminded of the episode which played out around 2004 where a few (and, particluarly one) Chinese vehicle makers were accused of unauthorized design infringement of the Honda CR-V of that time (2nd gen. RD4/5/7 model). I had at that time made a compilation of the vehicles which were purportedly copies, but unfortunately have now lost that document. So I decided to recreate it, just for old time's sake, and also since I am on this forum now, to see if anyone can share his/her inputs. (Also because of the holidays!) OK, so I have managed to come up with 10 examples. Many of these have featured on this forum as well.

The original:

Source: Wikipedia

The clones:

1. The most famous - Shuanghuan Rabo/Laibao (HBJ6461/HBJ6470YD/D/C/B)

Source: Wikipedia

2. Hongxing HX6470E
I am unable to find a clear image of this vehicle.
Apparently Shuanghuan and Hongxing were not integrated at the time, so this and the Rabo were different products (or at least at the outset. See my comment in post #8).

3. Heibao SM6471

Source: Chinacar.com.cn

contd...

 

[dmitra]

Re: Nostalgia Street : Honda CR-V and its clones

4. Tianqi Meiya TM6480A/A1 Shunfeng

Sources: 1365car.tj.cn via avtomobilizem.com, Chinacar.com.cn

5. Tianma KZ6470E/C

Source: Chinacar.com.cn

contd...

 

[dmitra]

6. Xinkai HXK6491CF/E

Source: cn357.com

7. Xin Dongfang/New East/Xiangyang XY6480 - from the YTO group

Source: hd.hx2car.com

contd...

 

[dmitra]

8. Huabei HC6460E/C Tengshi

Sources: cn357.com, avtomobilizem.com

contd...

 

[dmitra]

9. Baoding Dadi SR-V (BDD6470E/BDD6493E/C)
The BDD6470E was nearly identical to the Tianma KZ6470C/E.
The BDD6493E/C was also sometimes referred to as the City Leading, a label given actually to the BDD6492E.

Sources: autonavigator.ru, cn357.com, autowp.ru

10. Zhongshun/Polarsun SZS6480

Source: cn357.com

contd...

 

[dmitra]

This one is not strictly a clone, but seems heavily influenced:
Zhongxing Chiye 2400/Cruiser 2400/Conquerer (BQ6472Y2C2/BQ6472R2C2)

Sources: cn357.com, pcauto.com.cn, che168.com via CCF.

Factual contributions/corrections from members are welcome.
This post had to be broken due to picture upload limits.
Disclaimer: No judgment is intended to be passed regarding the desirability or appropriateness of cloning products.
The purpose of this post is just to chronicle the facts in one place.

 

[CCF mod]

Nice, comprehensive article. I assume all companies were buying same body shells from one supplier.
I don't know much about Hongxing,nor do I recognize their logo. Is perhaps car on below pictures their product? It's the same vehicle as Shuanghuan Laibao but with different badge.

 

[dmitra]

Thanks for the appreciation.
This double ring logo was a previous Shuanghuan logo. The car in your pics is in fact a Rabo. See:

The Hongxing logo (also a double ring, enclosed in an ellipse) is featured in these following ads:

Some of Hebei Hongxing's other products were SUVs (HX6481, HX6490) and minibuses (HX6500/6501). Now, of course, it is a part of Shuanghuan (the Noble is HX6300).

I did find slight differences in specs/dimensions between the Rabo and the equivalent Hongxing vehicle. I believe Shuanghuan assimilated the HX6470E into their Rabo program with the acquisition of Hongxing.

Speaking more generally, there were two body shells on offer, one about 4.7 m long and another 4.9 m. The third side windows were shaped differently for the longer models.

 

[dmitra]

Related to this topic, there was this cargo/passenger combi van drawing inspiration, this time, from the 1st-generation CR-V. A few sources indicate this being built 1998-2003. (Not too sure about these dates, but it certainly did precede the Rabo)

Shuanghuan HBJ6460B

Sources: 2sc.cn, 360che.com, ganji.com via Cheshi.

 

[Naviato84]

Thank you dmitra for this very interesting thread.

In Beijing, I saw a Shuanghuan HBJ6460C with a different front (old Toyota inspired) :

 

[dmitra]

Thank you dmitra for this very interesting thread.

In Beijing, I saw a Shuanghuan HBJ6460C with a different front (old Toyota inspired) :

Yes, I came across a few pics of that vehicle while hunting for images related to this thread. Thanks for mentioning.