We have a shipload of new photos of the infamous Zotye SR8 Porsche Macan clone from China, showing blue and a red example in front of a Zotye dealer. They are late-test cars with some measuring equipment installed, but otherwise production cars. We can also confirm that mass production has started.

Price of the SR8 will start at 88.800 yuan and end at 99.900 yuan. The fuzzy numbers are no coincidence, both 8 and 9 are considered lucky in Chinese culture. For comparison; price for the Porsche Macan starts at a steep 558.000 yuan or 89.920 USD.

Engines: 150hp 1.5 turbo and a 190hp 2.0 turbo. The engines are sourced from the Shenyang-Mitsubishi engine-making joint venture, a company that powers basically all vehicles made by smaller Chinese automakers, including the infamous Landwind X7 Range Rover Evoque clone. Transmissions: five-speed manual or a six-speed DCT.

Size wise:

Zotye SR8: 4744/1929/1647, and wheelbase is 2850.
Porsche Macan: 4681/1923/1624, and wheelbase is 2807.

Porsche has said it might sue Zotye. Zotye is not afraid. The company got away with the the SR7 (Audi Q3), Damai X5 (Tiguan), and the Zotye T600 (Audi Q5), so they expect to get away with the Macan too, and they are likely right.Next up: the Zotye Damai X7, a clone of the Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe concept.

In China you cannot claim purely numerical or alphabetical names, so everyone can call their car X7 or X5 or S80, so Landwind cannot sue Zotye for using the X7 name…

Interestingly, Jaguar Land Rover has said it is suing Landwind over the X7, almost an entire year after the car was launched on the market. Seems late, and in anyway a hard case. Porsche will watch carefully.

There is a load of roar about the SR8 in China, with some saying Zotye is a sh*t company that shouldn’t exist, others are applauding Zotye for standing up against a Western automaker (really). Others again say that the SR8 is Porsche’s own fault because the Macan is too expensive, others just see an attractive car for an attractive price. The discussion about the Landwind X7 was very similar, and in the end the X7 has become the biggest sales success for Landwind ever.

Even here in Beijing they are all over the place! Never seen much Landwind in the capital before the X7. Beijingnese considered it too cheap and too countryside. Well, no more. Zotye naturally hopes their SR7 will meet similar success.

The steering wheel is nicked from Porsche too, but the digital instrument panel is Zotye’s own.

Porsche Macan.

Note the shape of the panel around the mirror. Exactly the same as in the Porsche. We hadn’t seen that one yet! Lap timer of dash top became a clock in the Zotye. Also see the large digital dial on the instrument panel, that looks properly cool, and Porsche doesn’t have that.

Overall shape of the dash is a near-100% copy. Quality and materials seem rather good for a Zotye.

Panel around the gear lever is just like in the Porsche again, but the lever itself differs.

On the move. Graphics look good.

Large panoramic sunroof.

This is really not a Macan.

This is.

And this is not. They even stole the design of the rear spoiler. And the mirrors, and the door handles. Everything!

Macan.

Not Macan.

Zotye added, in a storm of creativity we suppose, a new grille, lights, and bonnet.

The Macan.

Exhaust pipes don’t really seem to fit properly.

They are somehow not in balance. Ugly.

Those are hefty tires, likely for off-road testing.

The 2.0 turbo, neatly covered in the engine bay.

More SR8 on the way.