Jianghuai Automobile Co to unveil Ford F-150 clone

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it is said, and with that do we come to the clone of the week segment.

According to reports, Chinese state-owned automaker Jianghuai Automobile Co is planning to unveil a pickup at the Beijing auto show in April. Nothing quite out of the ordinary, except that the vehicle will supposedly, ahem, borrow certain exterior design details from the Ford F-150, which is seen in the pix above (no, that’s not the clone!).

The JAC 4R3, as the pickup will be known as, will share the F-150′s grille, hood and extended cab design, and to top it off will also wear Ford’s distinctive blue oval, The Detroit News originally reported.

Ford, meanwhile, hasn’t decided whether to take legal action against JAC, the newspaper said. “We’re aware of it and we’re investigating. We’re just trying to get an idea of what’s going on with the vehicle and haven’t decided what our next steps might be,” a Ford spokesperson told the publication.

Chinese automakers have often been accused of producing clones of foreign vehicle models, and there’s little that can be done to stop it, it seems – apparently, automakers that have filed lawsuits against their imitators in the country’s courts have had little success in halting the spawning tide.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Fri, 17 Feb 12 08:29:22 +0000.

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