Chinese company clones Cadillac Escalade EXT

A small, state-owned Chinese automaker called Shanxi Victory has published details about the new Jinchi X1, a pickup truck that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Avalanche-based Cadillac Escalade EXT that recently went out of production.

Up front, the Jinchi X1 gains sharp vertical headlights clearly inspired by the ones found on the last-gen Escalade, horizontal fog lights mounted in the lower bumper and a plastic radiator grille with rectangular air vents. The Jinchi X1 is designed as a work truck and it does without the Escalade’s numerous pieces of chrome trim.

The Cadillac influence fades past the A-pillar, and the rest of the body is standard work truck fare save for a BMW-inspired X1 emblem on the tailgate. The story is largely the same on the inside, where the Jinchi X1 ditches the Escalade’s lavish interior in favor of hard plastics, cloth seats and a no-frills AM/FM stereo.

Shanxi’s Cadillac lookalike is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine available with either 91 or 100 horsepower. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission, and four-wheel drive might be offered at an extra cost.

The truck is scheduled to go on sale across China next year with a base price of approximately $11,500. A more expensive SUV variant of the truck will join the lineup later in the production run.

Cadillac has not commented on the truck. Taking the matter to court is a costly and complicated endeavor but it sometimes pays off: Ford managed to block China’s JAC from launching a F-150 lookalike called 4R3 at last year’s Beijing Motor Show.

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