The Toyota Prius Copycat - Should Toyota be Worried?

The Chinese have been at it again, knocking off their own cheap versions of existing cars from reputable sellers such as BMW, Daewoo, and even Rolls Royce. Almost predictably, it’s now Toyota’s turn with the world famous Prius hybrid.

Fortunately, Prius owners don’t have to worry too much about these new Chinese models saturating the market and devaluing their cars, because these artificial Priuses have one minor flaw: They’re ridiculous.

Not only are the four wheeled examples above considerably narrower and shorter than the real Toyota Prius, you can guarantee these knock-off vehicles have not undergone crash testing. Almost certainly, these cars will not have even a fraction of the safety available in a genuine Prius.

It’s a strange situation, and it’s about to get even stranger: enter the three wheeled version.

It gets even stranger...

While China has a large number of three wheeled vehicles operating, I never in a million years expected to see a Prius knock-off among this collection.

Sadly these cars were originally on the Alibaba website, but have since been removed. There’s no pricing information any more, and no details on drivetrain. When it’s all said and done, perhaps this is a good thing.

UPDATE: After some serious web hunting, I have a suspicion this three-wheeled “Prius” might just be a 4-wheeled knock-off with the front missing, and a deceptive camera angle. Does anyone know for sure?