Talk to anyone who has shopped on a trip to China and you'll hear stories about high-quality knockoffs at bargain-basement prices. It seems everything from high-end watches to designer clothes have their Chinese equivalent tagged at fire-sale prices. This trend doesn't stop there and includes big-ticket items like cars and trucks. Manufacturers have long complained that the Chinese business community has little respect for intellectual property rights, and a tour around the Beijing show is proof that the 120 or so local manufacturers vying for market share aren't relying on in-house designs to get in on the action.

While some of the knockoffs are dead ringers, others are close enough. Such is the case with the Lifan 320, which borrows heavily from the Mini. The big difference between the two is that the Chinese variant has four doors compared to the Mini's two.

In the exact duplicate category, there's the Great Wall Coolbear. Cool name, not original looks. This time Great Wall uses the last-generation Scion xB as its template and copies it right down to the size of the badge, but with different graphics. Even the instruments, which are in the center of the Scion's dash, is faithfully re-created in the Coolbear.

Many of the clones are meant for domestic consumption only, so most manufacturers, if they are aware of the clone at all, take a hands-off approach. However, the Shuanghuan Noble, a lookalike for the smart car, made it to the Frankfurt show last fall, where Mercedes-Benz, smart's parent, threatened legal action if the Noble were sold in Europe. Perhaps it was the car's motto "Smarter than the rest" that got Mercedes' attention.

Another Mercedes knockoff comes from a company whose initials, BYD, stand for Build Your Dream. Well, they're building someone else's dream of a car with the BYD F8, which is a ringer for the Mercedes-Benz CLK. The cars share the same quad-headlamp look with a horizontal slotted grille. One difference is that the F8 has a retractable hardtop as opposed to the CLK's soft top.

While the Shuanghuan S CEO looks like a BMW X5, enough so, that BMW also threatened suit if the vehicle were sold outside China, you'll find that beneath the skin, it's nothing like the original. Instead of unit-body construction with an independent suspension, you get a trucklike frame with leaf springs. As with any fake, caveat emptor.

1. Lifan 320

2. Great Wall Coolbear

3. Shuanghuan Noble

4. BYD F8

5. Shuanghuan S CEO

Lifan 320

The parallels between this new China-built econobox and the iconic Mini Cooper are hard to miss.

Although Lifan denies that its new "3-Series" has anything to do with the Mini, the parallels between this new China-built econobox and the iconic Brit subcompact are hard to miss. From the rounded front fenders and hood to the squared-off back and contrasting color roof, the Lifan 320 does a passable imitation of the real thing.

The big difference, which Lifan is sure to point out, is that the 320 has four doors. Still, the shape of the headlamps and the upside Mini grille can't be called original. Certainly, the 320 won't be a match for the Mini when it comes to performance. Under the hood is a 1.3-litre 4-cylinder engine driving the front wheels. A 1.1-litre version is expected later this year. Still, one area where a knockoff shines is price — this China-only model retails for under $7500 US or about a third of what a moderately loaded Cooper costs in the U.S.

Great Wall Coolbear

What's not to like about this first-generation Scion xB knockoff from Chinese maker Great Wall.

With a name like Coolbear, what's not to like about this first-generation Scion xB knockoff from Chinese maker Great Wall. This box-on-wheels is faithful to the Toyota version from its squared-off greenhouse right down to the size of the front badge, which is the same general shape as the Scion oval but with a neat little graphic designed to recall the Great Wall of China.

The Coolbear is powered by a choice of three engines starting with a 1.2-litre diesel and two gasoline powerplants, one displacing 1.3 litres, the other 1.5 litres. The front-drive Coolbear is equipped with a 5-speed manual gearbox and even has center-mounted instruments like the Scion.

According to Great Wall press materials, the Coolbear "is a very practical wagon, a stylish and compact passenger car, mainly suitable for men."  

Shuanghuan Noble

Bearing a striking resemblance to the smart urban car.

Bearing a striking resemblance to the smart urban car, the Shuanghuan Noble is again being shown at the Beijing show. When it appeared last fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz threatened the Chinese company with legal action if it attempted to sell the vehicle in Europe.

Perhaps it was the motto with which Shuanghuan planned to market the car that so irked Mercedes. The company said the Noble was "Smarter than the rest." Perhaps that motto was driven by the fact that the slightly longer Noble, while a twin to the smart, actually has four seats instead of two. The Noble does mimic the smart with a rear-mounted 1.1-litre 3-cylinder engine, and the company hoped to undercut the fortwo's sticker by at least 1000 Euros.

BYD F8

A front end that looks like a Mercedes CLK convertible and a badge that is a takeoff on BMW's famed blue and white Roundel.

With the BYD F8, you get a twofer — a front end that looks like a Mercedes CLK convertible and a badge that is a takeoff on BMW's famed blue and white Roundel.

BYD, which stands for Build Your Dream, offers a range of knockoffs that start with the F1 (a dead ringer for the Toyota Aygo) right up through the F8, this Mercedes doppelgänger. The quad headlamps flank a grille that is almost a dead ringer for the Stuttgart-based automaker's design.

The F8, however, differs in one respect, it has a retractable hardtop as opposed to the CLK's soft top. And beneath the skin, its as different as night and day from its erstwhile German inspiration. The F8 is actually a 4-cylinder front-drive car as opposed to the CLK's rear drive and availability of V-6 and V-8 engines. One innovation that BYD has developed for the car, and is quite original, is a keyless sensor built into a wristwatch that allows you to remotely start the car.

Shuanghuan S CEO

Shuanghuan is also testing the patience of BMW with the CEO, its take on the Bavarian automaker's X5 crossover.

Not content just to irk Mercedes-Benz with its smart knockoff, Shuanghuan is also testing the patience of erstwhile Mercedes rival BMW with the CEO, its take on the Bavarian automaker's X5 crossover. The CEO was shown last fall at Frankfurt, alongside the Noble and a Toyota RAV4 clone, and Shuanghuan was duly threatened with legal action if it tried to sell the vehicle in Europe.

Unlike the unit-body X5, however, the CEO relies on old-fashioned body-on-frame construction, and the rear suspension is a very trucklike live rear axle with leaf springs. It just looks new on the outside, like most good knockoffs. BMW may have succeeded in stopping the sale of the CEO in Europe, but China is another matter. Shuanghuan's defense is that the government told them they could build it. We guess BMW will have a tougher time fighting city hall when that town is Beijing.