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What do you think of Foton’s ‘The Big General’ (Da Jiang Jun)? Reckon it could take on Ford’s F-150 Raptor?
Just when you thought Chinese car manufacturers might have come up with a design language of their own, along comes this Ford F-150 Raptor lookalike called the Foton Da Jiang Jun, which translates as The Big General.
In case you missed the memo, Foton is the manufacturer of the Tunland ute.
Spotted by the team over at Jalopnik, there’s no mistaking the intent of The Big General – it’s been clearly designed to look just like a 2020 Ford F-150 Raptor, but instead of the Ford’s potent 3.5L V6 engine, the Foton Da Jiang Jun comes with a 2.0L petrol engine or a choice of diesel engines; a 2.0L unit or a 2.5L unit. And unlike the Raptor’s 10-speed auto, all Foton power-plants are mated to an eight-speed manual gearbox. The 2.0L petrol engine allegedly makes 238hp (177kW), which is down substantially on the Raptor V6’s claimed peak output of 450hp (336kW)… but hey, it’s all about the look, right?
Not only does the Foton Da Jiang Jun replicate the Raptor’s stylised headlight design, its large, aggressive grille, its bulbous fenders and its flared wheel arches, but even the typeface used for the large FOTON badge on the grille is almost a direct copy of the Raptor’s FORD badge.
The last time we saw such a blatant Chinese copy of another manufacturer’s 4×4 – the Landwing X7, which was a copy of the Ranger Rover Evoque – it ended up in court, with Jaguar Land Rover winning the case in the Beijing Chaoyang District Court in 2019, and scoring compensation for its efforts. After the ruling, Auto News Europe reported that Keith Benjamin, one of JLR’s legal team said, “This ruling is a clear sign of the law being implemented appropriately to protect consumers and uphold their rights so that they are not confused or misled, while protecting business investment in design and innovation.”
Looking at ‘The Big General’, it seems as if the styling department at Foton may have missed the 2019 JLR vs. Landwing court ruling… or they just don’t care.
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