Ever since the earliest days of the motoring industry, car makers have “borrowed” good ideas from their rivals or found themselves “Inspired” by some of the new features on the vehicles made by their competitors. In other words, they ripped them off.

Even the Ford Model A, which first rolled off the infamous Ford production line in 1927, was copied by other car manufacturers of the time. Chevrolet was the other great American car maker of that era, and they had been playing catch-up since the days of the Model T. So what’s the best way to take on and beat your much more successful competitor? Copy their design, of course, just as Chevrolet did with their 1931 Independence.

Ford wasn’t always the innocent party in these plagiarism incidents, however. In 1960, the Ford Edsel was launched, and many motorists soon noticed that it bore a remarkable resemblance to the 1959 Pontiac Bonneville, especially the grille which was almost a carbon copy of the older vehicle.

These days, the biggest culprits when it comes to copying the design of other cars are car makers from China, who have ripped off American, European and Japanese cars without even trying to hide what they are up to. Some of these new Chinese models are so similar to the originals, that it can be difficult to tell them apart.

18 Mazda 2 and Alfa Romeo Mito

Via motor1.com

Alfa Romeo makes some of the most stylish vehicles in the world – they just also happen to be among the most expensive vehicles in the world! It is hardly surprising that other car manufacturers turn to Alfa Romeo so frequently for design inspiration for their own cars, and it is easy to understand why motorists like to buy these rip-off automobiles; you get the great style of an Alfa Romeo for a fraction of the cost. That was clearly Mazda’s plan when they launched their Mazda 2, which had clearly borrowed heavily from Alfa Romeo’s supermini car, the Mito.

17 Mazda 3 and Alfa Romeo Giulietta

ia autotrader

Mazda didn’t just borrow from Alfa Romeo once, however. When they were developing their Mazda 3 hatchback, the designers once again turned their gaze towards the Italian company and their classic Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

While the two vehicles look very different from the front and sides, take a glance at the rear of the cars, and you would be barely able to tell the difference between the two.

In fact, from the back, the only difference between the Mazda 3 and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta is the price tag – you can save a few thousand dollars by slumming it with the Mazda.

16 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and Honda FR-V

via youtube

German auto manufacturer BMW is famous for its luxury executive cars which are often well beyond the finances of the average motorist. And yet in 2014, the company decided to reinvent their already successful 2 Series by creating the compact the Active Tourer MPV that would appeal to BMW drivers who now had a family to think of. Unfortunately, BMW didn’t have much experience when it came to designing MPVs and looked to other car makers for inspiration. The Active Tourer looks suspiciously like the Honda FR-V which came out ten years earlier in 2004, leaving the BMW 2 Series version looking a little out-of-date.

15 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and Kia Carens

Via youtube.com

The Honda FR-V isn’t the only MPV which the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer bears a strong resemblance to. There is also a very strong similarity between the BMW version and the much cheaper Kia Carens, especially at the rear, where both vehicles have an almost identical roof design. BMW are noted for their reliability, durability, and usually for their creativity, so if you want an MPV which looks like the Kia Carens, but which has been built to last, at least you now have the option of splashing out a little extra on the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer.

14 Infiniti Q50 and BMW 3 Series

Via autonxt.net

You might be starting to think that BMW are always the bad guys when it comes to copying other auto companies’ designs, but they have also been the victim of such industrial sabotage themselves. The popular BMW 3 Series is one of the German company’s most popular vehicles, so it is understandable that other car manufacturers would take a look at what BMW was getting right – and then copy it for themselves! This is what happened with the Infiniti Q50 which managed to make a car look like the BMW 3 Series, but more modern, all at the same time.

13 Toyota RAV4 and Ford Kuga

Via wired.com

In 2014, new models of both the Toyota RAV4 and the Ford Kuga went on sale, and both were launched at about the same time. So, given the obvious similarities between the two SUVs, who ripped off who? New vehicles are often in development for months or even years before they make it to the marketplace, so maybe someone at Ford caught a peek at a draft version of the RAV4 or maybe some lowly designer at Toyota took a new job at Ford and put the ideas he had seen at his old company to work on the new Kuga.

12 Suzuki SX4 X-Cross and Nissan Qashqai

via moto.pl

Nissan were real market leaders when it came to developing SUVs for families, and their Qashqai model is a big seller partly because they managed to get ahead of the rest of the auto industry in this area. Inevitably, however, being a front-runner in the family SUV market means that other car makers are also going to copy your idea, and in the case of the Suzuki SX4 X-Cross, actually copy your vehicle. Suzuki made their version a little rougher and ready – ideal for the family man who still wants to off-roading, just with his kids in tow this time!

11 Kia Stinger and Audi R8

via car and driver

When you think of Porsche, the first thing that pops into your head is “sports car.” The same cannot be said for South Korean motor manufacturer Kia, which has more of a reputation for building cheap but reliable small family cars.

Even the designers at Kia want to have a little fun, however, and so the Kia Stinger was born, the company’s take on the sleek and sophisticated sports cars which are more commonly made in Europe.

In fact, eagle-eyed observers soon noticed that the Kia Stinger owed a lot to the styling of the Audi R8 – even though the South Korean version was a fraction of the price of the original.

10 Volkswagen CC And Mercedes Benz CLS

via driving.ca

When the Mercedes CLS first appeared on the scene, it was something of a ground-breaker for the makers of luxury cars. Previously, luxury had been everything, which meant that most vehicles were imposing and stately; not adjectives that could be applied to the sleek and almost sporty Mercedes CLS. Of course, as we all know, anyone who leads the way with new innovations is going to end up having those innovations ripped off by other companies who want a piece of their success. And this is just happened when Volkswagen launched their CC model, an almost carbon copy of the Mercedes.

9 Fiat 500L and Mini Countryman

via car and driver

There is only one Mini – albeit that the new owners of the iconic brand, BMW, have made a few additions and improvements to the classic design, to bring it up to date and into the 21st century.

One of these additions is the Mini Countryman, essentially a cross between the Mini we all know and love and an SUV.

Fiat, another maker of classic small cars, saw the success Mini was having with their beefed up model and decided they wanted a piece of the action, launching the suspiciously similar Fiat 500L in 2013, another mini (without the capital M) SUV.

8 Alfa Romeo 4C and Lotus Elise

via pinterest

The Italian carmaker Alfa Romeo has already made a few appearances in this list – though always as the car that is being ripped off, rather than the one that is doing the ripping. Just to show that there is no such thing as a car company with absolutely clean hands, however, the example of the Alfa Romeo 4C, an aggressive-looking roadster that is a far cry from the Italian firm’s usual style. And there’s a good reason for that; they copied a great deal of the exterior design from the Series 3 Lotus Elise which was launched in 2010.

7 Hyundai i20 and Vauxhall Corsa

Via goodhousekeeping.com

It’s a mystery as to why designers at Hyundai decided they wanted to copy the look of the Vauxhall Corsa for their new small family car, the i20. The Corsa has certainly been a big seller throughout Europe since its launch as the Opel Corsa back in 1982, but let’s face it, this is not a car that is going to win any beauty pageants. The best thing that can be said for either the Corsa or the Hyundai i20, is that they are inoffensive. Perhaps that’s the secret to selling do many vehicles, and why Hyundai decided to rip off such an uninspiring design.

6 Vauxhall Adam and Ford Ka

via bristol street motors

City cars are second only to SUVs when it comes to sales in Europe, and they are becoming increasingly popular in the States too.

British car maker Vauxhall launched the Adam in the UK in 2012, and as the Opel Adam across the rest of Europe, in a bid to take on much more established city car names like Mini and Fiat.

However, it wasn’t a Mini or a Fiat that Vauxhall ripped off when designing their own compact vehicle, but that other quintessential city car, the Ford Ka. The similarities are particularly noticeable in the shape of the vehicle and in the styling of the roof at the back.

5 Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift

Via carmagazine.co.uk

Eastern European Skoda cars have been a bit of a running joke since long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, mainly because of their unreliability, but also because of their boxy and unattractive designs. Head into the 21st century, however, and Skoda vehicles are starting to look very different indeed; almost stylish, in fact! So how has the Czech automobile manufacturer managed to reinvent itself? Mainly by copying designs from other car makers, specifically the Suzuki Swift when it comes to the company’s bargain family car, the Skoda Fabia, which is basically just an updated version of the Swift.

4 Kia K900 and BMW 7 Series

Via motoring.com

If you’re going to rip off another luxury saloon while creating your own version, then you might as well rip off the best! That seems to have been Kia’s maxim when they were working on their assault on the luxury car market, the Kia K900, which bears more than a passing resemblance to one of the most successful luxury saloons of all time, the BMW 7 Series. Regardless of how similar the two cars look, no-one would try to claim that Kia’s copied version is better than the original. It does, however, have one major advantage over the original BMW 7 Series, and that is the cost.

3 SEAT Leon and Alfa Romeo Alfasud

via car-revs-daily

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Alfa Romeo must be feeling pretty flattered right now. They do seem to be one of the most copied car manufacturers, at least in recent times. However, it appears that this tendency of car manufacturers to steal ideas from Alfa Romeo has a longer history than we might have thought. When the 1999 Seat Leon was launched, it was widely admired as one of the best-looking hatchbacks of the era. Only hardcore motoring fans had a niggling feeling that they had seen it somewhere before. Somewhere long before, in fact, as the late 90s, the Seat Leon bore a striking resemblance to the Alfa Romeo Alfasud from 1977!

2 Ford Mondeo and Audi A5 Sportback

Via carmagazine.co.uk

The Ford Mondeo has become one of Ford’s most successful and popular cars, but the most recent models bear more than a passing resemblance to the Audi A5 Sportback, especially when you look at the styling on the sides of the two vehicles.

Ford hasn’t just taken inspiration from Audi, but also from Aston Martin in the design of the car’s front grille.

No-one would try and claim that a Ford Mondeo is better than an Audi A5 or any Alfa Romeo, but it is much cheaper, giving drivers the chance to drive a sophisticated set of wheels for a fraction of the cost.

1 Jaguar XE and BMW 3 Series

Via canadianautoreview.ca

When the time came in 2015 for Jaguar to create their new executive car, the Jaguar XE, the company was under a lot of pressure to get things just right. And so the Jaguar execs decided not to take any chances when it came to getting the design of their new vehicle just right, borrowing heavily from their own, already-successful Jaguar XF. Borrowing from your own cars is fine, if a little uninspiring; however, Jaguar also heavily borrowed from the BMW Series 3 when it came to the styling of the front end of the XE, but did so in such a way that they managed to improve on the original.

Sources: Automaniac.org, carmagazine.co.uk, thecarconnection.com, topgear.com,edsel.com