WANNABE cars of India: Outrightly hilarious to plain-jane copies

Replicas aren’t common in India but some cars just take it to the next level. Of course, imitation is the best form of flattery, but only if done right. Not too far from the Chinese copycat cars (about which you can read here and here), we now have a couple of modified cars that wanted to be something more good-looking, desirable, and fast. The pictures might tell you a very different story, though.

Starting with the conversion that’s easiest on the eye:

Royal Rover

Well, the name doesn’t give its origin away but one look at it and you know that it’s not a Land Rover Discovery but something more humble. The stupid ‘Royal Rover’ badge on the bonnet and a Land Rover like grille might make you believe otherwise but it’s a Hyundai Creta. Of course when you don’t want to spend four times the money of a compact sedan but want the looks, that might be a good way to do it. But here’s hoping it gets a better ability off the road with that badge.

Audi Zen

Well, the Maruti Zen was the ‘world car’, after all. So it’s hardly a surprise it can pull off carrying a wide Audi grille, a ridiculous bodykit, Audi logos up front and rear, and a red interior so well. Or maybe not!

The car is up for sale on OLX and we would suggest you buy it if all you need to look is a wannabe fool who drives a FAKE car, complete with projector headlamps and dual silencers.

The only saving grace is, as the description says, it’s accident free. So one can buy it and push it off a cliff or something…

Lamborghini Accent

Hyundai Accent did well in the Indian market, and effectively made buyers in the segment look at diesel powered cars a worthy alternative to the Hondas and the Marutis.

But its low point was when  the third world (and third class) equivalent of Pablo Picasso decided to turn it into a Lamborghini, or whatever this thing is. The sharp looking front end looks nice to start with, but soon the oddball oval headlamps ensure the design’s ruined.

As one move toward the rear it’s nothing but disappointment, as the rear fender is totally out of proportion, made so to accommodate a wide derriere. The small wing does little to help its case…

And is that a German flag by any chance?

Jaguar Linea

It’s always a personal preference, a car’s looks, but ruining them shouldn’t be. How on Earth can you justify making a Fiat Linea look like the one here. But as it turns out the owner/modifier wanted to keep the Fiat identity intact while adding bits to make it look like a Jag.

Of course neither the idea nor the CAD drawings (we doubt that was even considered) resulted in anything good looking, even remotely. If there was ever a petition to stop abuse on cars, this will surely make people sign up.

Audi Captiva

Someone had the moolah to buy something half the price of the Q7 but that obviously doesn’t cut it. So in order to live your Q7 dream, you take that perfectly good looking Captiva, add bits and pieces to make it look like the Q7, and voila, you have the Audi Q6.

The overall work doesn’t look bad, and the humour with the ‘Q6’ badging isn’t bad, either, but it’s still a fake.

Use of the Audi A4’s (B7) headlamps and taillamps from the Q7 might have brought the owner closer to the German car of his/her dreams, but there are enough giveaways to tell others that it’s still a Captiva underneath.

Lamborghini Esteem

This one looks slightly better than the other ‘Lamborghini’ here, is said to be based on an Esteem, and even has a custom, colour-coded interior. The rear end has both the design and quality going all over the place but the front-end doesn’t look that bad.

This Murcielago’s interior has faux Alcantara to complete the look, and that adds to the overall desirability of this replica.

Will we buy one? Are you crazy, NO! Also, the interior also has bits of the Ikon, which makes us question the donor vehicle of this contraption.

Land Rover Fusion

There have been a couple of very intriguing examples of Anglo-US partnerships but a Land Rover badged Ford is the last thing you would expect after the former became free from the latter. But the Ford Fusion is from the time when Land Rover was controlled by Ford, so someone with some knowledge of the dynamics of the automotive world, decided to make his/her own model. The boxy styling of the Fusion looks good with the boxy front end of the Fusion but not this Jeep-like grille.

The headlamps did get an update to these, making it look more Land Cruiser like. It looks like someone missed the whole point, apart from screwing up the front styling of the car.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (a and b), 6, and 7