Chevrolet is Apparently Okay With Chinese Automaker’s 1958 Corvette Knockoff

By
Mitch Talley
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11
14378

Chevrolet is Apparently Okay With Chinese Automaker's 1958 Corvette Knockoff

Photo Credit: CarNewsChina.com


General Motors apparently isn’t upset enough over a just-unveiled clone of its C1 Corvette to take the Chinese automaker responsible to court.

A company named Songsan unveiled the “SS Dolphin” at the recent 2020 Beijing Motor Show, and you’d have to be blind not to see the attempt to mooch off the original first-generation Corvette design of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Ordinarily, you might expect GM lawyers to be in full attack mode, but Kevin Kelly, Chevy’s senior manager of car and crossover communications, told CarScoops in a statement that while Sonsang Motors didn’t ask for permission to replicate the design of the original C1, “they are not using any of our trademarked names or logos, and the design is not identical to the C1.”

Chevrolet is Apparently Okay With Chinese Automaker's 1958 Corvette Knockoff


We’d have to agree with Kelly’s assessment because to us, something about the SS just doesn’t look right in the front and rear areas, not to mention the side scoop that seems larger than Chevy’s effort. The windows and roofline are also much longer, which might translate into more room inside and make for a more comfortable experience driving the SS.

Of course, if you’re going to try to market a hybrid vehicle, why not choose an iconic design like the C1 Corvette to deliver it to the public instead of the usual bland modern design? The SS Dolphin has a much more modern drivetrain, with a 1.5 turbo gasoline engine supplemented by an electric motor said to have a range of 56-62 miles with the 16kWh battery pack alone.


Overall, the two engines combine to produce 315 horsepower and 395 lb-ft of torque, enough juice to take the SS Dolphin from 0 to 60 in a respectable 4.9 seconds.

The interior is much different from the C1 as well, with a floating touchscreen and an all-digital dashboard among the amenities inside.

No word on how much this C1 wannabe will cost, but we’re not sure it would be worth it. What do you think?


Source:
CarScoops.com

Related:
Tribute or Copycat? The SongSan SS Dolphin Makes Its Debut at the Beijing Motor Show
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11 COMMENTS

  1. LOL. Hard to say no to your parts masters. GM wouldn’t want China to suddenly have “problems” making parts for them.

  2. The less GM says about it, the less attention will be paid to an obvious China market vehicle. Besides, it is probably much safer, more comfortable and more durable than the aged C1 given the latest in technology used to build it.

  3. Oh, yeah . . . I see the difference now ~ the Chinese C1 has headrests!… so it’s obviously not anything at all like the late C1 generation Chevy Corvette… ‘no need for a lawsuit.
    There’s obvious . . . and then there’s O B V I O U S !

  4. Kevin Kelly, Chevy’s senior manager of car and crossover communications, told CarScoops in a statement that while Sonsang Motors didn’t ask for permission to replicate the design of the original C1, “they are not using any of our trademarked names or logos, and the design is not identical to the C1.”

    Let me translate for you.

    “While this communist, authoritarian regime has blatantly copied our car and appropriated a huge part of our history in a brazen attempt to mock and spite our country, we can’t afford to lose this market, so we are going to look the other way.”

    There, I fixed it for you. Get out of the Chinese market, GM. Now.

  7. If you tried to manufacture, exact replicas of the original Grand Sport, GM would be all over you with a gang of lawyers on your doorstep. But the Chinese can boldly copy a C1, with one the ugliest attempts, of bringing a car out since the Nissan “Juke”, and they just let it slide. Where would China’s automotive industry get their automotive designs, if the rest of the world did build any cars, so there was nothing to copy?

  8. Figures………..probably never see an American firm building copies of a Chinese “classic”. This car is ugly on every level. GM doesn’t want to draw any more attention to this atrocity by making a big deal out of something that will never gain acceptance outside the peoples republic.

  10. Seems like Kevin Kelly needs an optical plan. Or is he just blinded by the money like Hunter Biden? Let’s test the waters, have an American car fabricator design a vehicle with half the similarities of any generation Corvette and let’s see what happens. Lawsuit!!!

  11. I wouldn’t buy one but I do find it interesting and would love to see it in person. Can you imagine driving one to a local US Corvette car show and seeing the reaction.

Comments are closed.