Copycat Chinese Carmaker Clones Volkswagen Tiguan

It would seem that Chinese carmakers are still busy copying the designs of cars from other carmakers. The latest in this rather stupid trend is a clone of the Volkswagen Tiguan.

Called the Domy X7, the SUV is the 'creation' of Chinese carmaker Zotye Auto and its team of designers (Cough! 'Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V' Cough!).

Zotye has tried to differentiate the X7 from the Tiguan though, by pasting on the grille from another Volkswagen creation, the Cross Coupe GTE Concept. However, the rest of the SUV is a blatant copy of Volkswagen's SUV, right down to the angular 3D design of the tail lamps.

The interiors of the X7 are once again 'inspired' by the Tiguan, though they are a lot more colourful looking than the bland, boring interiors of the German SUV. However, they look a lot cheaper as well.

However, the Domy X7 does outclass the Tiguan in one important segment, engine options. The Domy X7 is available with three engine options — a 1.5-litre engine producing 148bhp, a 1.8-litre engine producing 168bhp and a 2.0-litre engine that pumps out 187bhp.

The Volkswagen Tiguan which is sold in China is only available with a 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine that produces 148bhp.

This isn't the first time that Zotye has copied SUVs from the Volkswagen group. In 2015, Zotye cloned an Audi A3 and earlier this year it made a rather vomit inducing copy of the Porsche Cayenne.