New Range Rover at Auto Beijing – almost

The BAW B90 - a tribute to the Range Rover

And you thought it was going to be 2012 until we saw the new generation of lighter, more efficient SUVs from Land Rover. So what’s going on with a new Range Rover at the Beijing Motor Show? As you probably guessed, we’re back to Chinese clones.

We did think the Chinese car makers were backing away from cloning – or ‘Paying Homage’ to – the products of the West’s car makers, especially after Geely decided to de-clone the Geely GE Rolls Royce Phantom clone. But it looks like BAW (Beijing Auto Works) are still up for churning out a clone or two to grab the attention of the domestic market.

The photo at the top is on a billboard in Beijing advertising the launch of the BAW B90 at the Beijing Motor Show this month. And it’s clearly a Range Rover-esque SUV aimed to pique the interest of the Chinese car buyer. Will the BAW B90 see the light of day in the West? Not a chance. But with a vast domestic market that really doesn’t matter to BAW.

And in case Land Rover feel victimised by this plagiarism, there’s no need. BAW are happily cloning Jeep as well with the BAW B40.

No word on prices or spec, but we guess they’ll be on the cheap side and probably fitted with a 1.5 litre 4-pot.

By Cars UK