Chinese Automaker Wey is Already Building a Ford Bronco Ripoff
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Wey P01 is an absolute love letter to the 2021 Ford Bronco.
Well, that didn’t take long. While automakers around the globe typically build their own, distinctive products, many are often accused of stealing ideas from each other. But automakers located in China have developed an entirely different reputation, one that oftentimes involves downright, blatant plagiarism. Some have been sued, but for the most part, they’ve gotten away with this devious practice for years. And the latest victim of stolen identity is the new 2021 Ford Bronco.
The vehicle you’re looking at is the Wey P01, which an SUV with styling that borrows many of its design cues from both the Bronco and its main competitor, the Jeep Wrangler. Wey is the premium division of Great Wall Motors, an automaker that focuses more on building trucks and SUVs. Currently, Great Wall has a partnership with BMW and even tried to purchased Fiat Chrysler a few years back.
Now, just a week after the all-new Bronco debuted, Wey has unveiled a rough-and-tumble SUV that could pass as a blood relative. Just look at those headlights, which like the Bronco, are circular with a single piercing bar in the center. The same goes for those upright taillights and upright grille. Meanwhile, the fenders are quite reminiscent of the current Jeep Wrangler.
Other than this handful of images, Wey didn’t tell us anything else about the forthcoming P01. It will make its official debut in the coming weeks, when we’ll get a better look at it. Truthfully, we’ve seen more blatant design ripoffs emerge from Chinese automakers. But there’s no denying the timing here, nor the obvious styling cues stolen from Ford’s legendary, reborn SUV.
We have to imagine that Wey has been piecing together these renderings over the last few weeks, using the various Bronco teasers as inspiration. That’s typically how these things work. In the past, several automakers have taken legal action against similar efforts, most notably Jaguar Land Rover’s suit against Jiangling Motor Corporation, which built and sold an exact Land Rover Evoque replica.
There’s no telling if Ford will inevitably decide to pursue a similar course. But at the same time, we’re highly doubtful that anyone holding a Bronco reservation would ever even think of swapping it out for some underpowered, poorly-executed copycat.
Photos: Wey
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