Land Cruiser

Make
Toyota
Segment
SUV

Take a wild guess where a fake Toyota Land Cruiser comes from. It really isn't hard. The obvious and only answer is China, the country that has a long history of completely ignoring copyrighted designs and technologies. Following a multi-year long court case, Jaguar Land Rover successfully fought back against the Landwind X7, a near duplicate of the Range Rover Evoque.

But what we're not wondering is whether Toyota will pursue legal action against the Hengtian L4600. It probably should because the L4600 is nearly a complete clone of the Toyota Land Cruiser, though there are some differences. For starters, this fake Chinese-built Land Cruiser is actually bigger than the real Land Cruiser.

The L4600 is longer and wider and only a little shorter. Its wheelbase is a bit bigger, too. The L4600's chassis design is another carbon copy, though its engine and transmission are built in China and have their own unique designs. This was also the case of the Landwind X7. That power comes from a 4.6-liter V8 with 286 horsepower. The real Land Cruiser has a 5.7-liter V8 with 381 hp.

The exterior's body panels are original, believe it or not, meaning they're produced by the automaker. There was absolutely no shame in stealing this design, even with finer details like the chrome grille.

Inside, it appears from this video the L4600 is even more luxurious than the Land Cruiser, perhaps a bit closer to the Lexus LX with all of that wood trim and two-tone leather upholstery.

The price? 270,000 yuan, which is about $38,000. The Land Cruiser, to compare, is far more expensive, only beginning at $85,000.

The Hengtian L4600 is still not on sale because it hasn't even officially premiered. That debut date was originally supposed to happen next month at the now-canceled 2020 Beijing Motor Show. An online debut is now more likely. It'll be interesting to see how or if Toyota will respond.