Check Out These Hilarious Chinese Supercar Knock-Offs

By James Derek Sapienza - October 1, 2018

They’re real, and they’re craptastic.

In the past decade, China has become one of the most important car markets in the world. Supercars are pouring into the country to satisfy the demands of the nouveau riche. And American and European automakers are building factories over there at an incredible rate. In the States, we’re even getting Chinese-made cars now, in the form of the Buick Envision and the Volvo XC60. For years, an invasion of Chinese-built cars has seemed poised to overtake the American market.

Well, that isn’t happening today.

Alibaba is something like the Chinese Amazon. It’s one of the largest commerce sites in the world. But unlike Bezos’ baby, you can buy cars on it. Some of them are perfectly legitimate. And many of them are not.

Despite China’s economic boom, it’s still notorious for building and selling knock-off goods. Whether passable or laughably bad, it’s clear that many companies could care less about Western copyright or intellectual property laws. And apparently, that extends to cars.

We took a look at some of the “sports cars” Alibaba has to offer, and they’re bad. Laughably bad. From the familiar to the ridiculous, here’s the, um, best of what we found.

First up, we have the Evergreen “Popular Fuel & Electric sport car with Air condition.” If you can’t afford a Lamborghini, this baby can be yours for somewhere in the $5,000 to 7,000 dollar range. Outside, the car looks like the unholy union of an Autozam AZ-1 and a wrecked Lambo. Inside, it’s more golf cart than anything else – right down to the astroturf carpet. Top speed? About 36 miles per hour. But before you rush to get your credit card, a quick scan of the fine print says that Evergreen’s minimum order is two units per customer. We hope you have room in your garage.

Next, we have a trio of whips from a company called Everbright. An Audi R8, Bugatti Chiron and Porsche 911 seem like a dream garage, right? Well, for the price of a Toyota Corolla, you can have all three! Or at least the next best thing. The “Audi” and “Bugatti” both max out at $6,500. And to the surprise of no one, you probably wouldn’t want to be caught dead in either of them. Looking like a five-year-old’s drawing of the real cars, each car has touches of the real deal. The “Bugatti” “Fashionable Cool Four Wheels LED Light Reverse Camera Red Adults Electric Car” has the tombstone grille, rectangular LED lights, and rakish C-pillar. The rest of it is wavy body panels, dangerously sharp-looking angles, and an interior that looks like it was made out of a single piece of rubber. With a top speed of 30 miles per hour, it couldn’t catch a real Chiron if it was falling off a cliff.

Then we have Everbright’s “R8,” which is identical to the real thing in every way. Just kidding; if the five-ring grille badge doesn’t make you laugh, then the equally crappy build quality of the “Bugatti” will. Like that car, the “Audi” “Best Prices 4KW 2 Seater High Speed Electric Sports Car For Adults China Made“ has a top speed of 30 miles per hour. And if you want to extend battery life, the car is offered with a “solar panel” on the roof. We’ve never seen a solar panel that looks like it was printed on a sheet of computer paper before, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

Then there’s the “Porsche,” which offers wind-in-your-hair thrills for a mere $10,000. This thing takes the whole “squished beetle” idea to the extreme. If you love panel gaps, right angles, exposed interior fasteners, and blistering speed (top speed: 36 miles per hour), then this “2018 New Car Popular Convertible Adult Sports Electric Cars Prices” is the ride for you. Interestingly, Evergreen offers a seemingly identical version for a whole $2,500 cheaper. We can’t wait to read the big head-to-head review in Total 911 Magazine.

Next, we have a car that actually looks like it could be fun. The Kingwoo “312V 0-100 km to accelerate the fastest electric sports car” is an electric Ariel Atom knockoff. While it looks the business, its sub-100 mile-per-hour top speed won’t do it any favors on a track. On second thought, that’s probably a good thing. We’re not sure we’d want to flog this unproven $35,000 car too hard. Who knows what it’s made of.

If you’ve ever wanted to drive a life-size early ’90s Hot Wheels car with interior trim from a Honda, then the “Tucuxi Sports Electric Vehicle” is the ride for you. For $35,000, this car has a claimed top speed of 150 miles per hour and is allegedly built in Michigan. There is a website, but it’s completely blank. What’s more, the company is involved in cryptocurrency, so on top of your new totally-built-in-the-U.S.A. electric supercar, you can invest your life savings in “Crypto Tokens!” We can’t see a downside to any of this.

Last but certainly not least, we have the ALIC “electric sport car super car max speed 260kmh,2 doors.” For a mere $135,000, you get an outrageous looking hypercar that allegedly can leave some of the best cars in the world in the dust. Top Speed: 161 miles per hour. The body is entirely carbon fiber. The weight is around 3,300 pounds. There are no grains of salt big enough for us to take this with.

If these cars have you in a cold sweat, you’re in luck. We’ve calculated shipping, and every single one of them can be sent to the Port of Los Angeles for a mere $300. Of course, none of them are street legal, and we don’t want to know how unsafe these things are. Nonetheless, if you and some friends have money to burn, it would be great to see a single-make crapcan racing series with these things. Or the raddest retirement community in America. Or just something to drive around on someone’s land. These things are terrible, but we bet you could have a lot of fun in them too.