Fengsheng Maple 30X electric SUV resembles the design of the Tata Nexon from certain angles but the differences can clearly be seen
This Chinese car industry had grown leaps and bounds last decade and is currently the largest consumer of electric vehicles across the globe. The importance of the Chinese market is such that it indicates the growth and downfall of mainstream manufacturers on global scale and most of them have paired with local producers and developed China-specific vehicles.
The cars manufactured in China are technologically more advanced that what we have in India but the elephant in the room has to be addressed. Still, many Chinese brands are reluctant to follow their own way of designing their models and instead find it easy to copy from elsewhere. We have seen almost every major carmakers’ designs being ripped off by the Chinese but now they might have gone a step too far.
Our India market is bunched up with compact SUVs and Tata Nexon has to be one of the radical SUVs we have witnessed in recent times in terms of the design. Naturally, when the Chinese brand, Fengsheng Automobiles, wanted to introduce a compact they took Nexon as an inspiration far too close to comfort. Dubbed the Maple 30X, it is another electric SUV with several similarities to the design of the Nexon.
While you can argue that they did not rip the whole styling bits off from Nexon, the compact profile and coupe-like silhouette and swooping bonnet structure with clamshell design, the connection between A-pillar and edges of the bonnet, round-shaped wheel arches, rising side character line through the door handles and turn indicators are apparently identical.
Up front, the grille and the headlamp cluster are almost similar to the pre-facelifted Nexon while the busy bumper area, a notable departure from the recently facelifted Nexon, has C-shaped housing with horizontally positioned lights. The C-pillar appears to be unflattering when compared to the Nexon as not much thought has been put into it. And the rear is entirely different from the Indian compact SUV.
The Fengsheng Maple 30X derives power from a 70 kW electric motor and is claimed to have a driving range of 306 km on a single charge. A fast charging system can replenish the battery back to 80 per cent from zero in just half an hour. It also features a large touchscreen infotainment system and an all-digital instrument cluster. Back in India, the Nexon EV was the most sold electric car last month.