Image: ekim1331@gmail.com

Let’s face it: the list of people who can afford to buy a Bugatti Veyron is a short one, and the list of people who can afford to drive and maintain a real Veyron is even shorter. The annual major service runs around $20,000, and a set of Veyron-specific Michelin tires runs around $35,000. Every four sets of tires (roughly every 20,000 miles, since the tires only last 5,000 miles per set) the Veyron requires new wheels, too.

One Florida man who wanted a Veyron did the next best thing: he built his own, by hand, laying up fiberglass and composite over a steel tube frame. The underpinnings come from a 2002 Mercury Cougar, and unlike a real Veyron this example even has a functional back seat. Annual service will be quite a bit less, and I’d be willing to bet that tires last longer than 5,000 miles. I know for certain that they cost a lot less than $35,000 for a set of four.

Image: ekim1331@gmail.com

Downsides? Under the skin, it’s a stock 2002 Mercury Cougar, complete with a tired 2.5-liter V-6 and an automatic transmission. The car has over 120,000 miles on the clock, most of which was racked up with the Cougar’s original body in place. The interior was redone when the car was built, but I’d be willing to bet the engine and transmission could benefit from some serious attention. You could probably stuff an LS3 motor under the hood, or maybe even a Ford Coyote 5.0-liter V8, but neither engine swap would be easy or cheap to undertake.

Image: ekim1331@gmail.com

If you want the next best thing to your own Bugatti, this replica is currently for sale on eBay. The asking price is a rather ambitious $89,000, which undoubtedly reflects the amount of time and effort spent building the car. It looks like a nicely built replica, but I’d have a hard time coughing up Corvette Z06 money for a rebodied Mercury Cougar. The car may look like a Veyron, but it certainly won’t run with the big dogs, and getting walked by a stock Civic Si would be, um, embarrassing.

Source: Yahoo News

In my short time on this earth I have seen a variety of automotive replicas, some in bad taste and others were respected attempts to ‘pull-it-off’. My friend Jason at AutoGuide.com discovered a video on GT Spirit of a peculiar Bugatti Veyron replica created from a BMW 6 Series. Jason says it best in his description of this ‘creation’ below.

This car began life as was a standard BMW 6-Series coupe. But after more extensive modifications to its exterior than Heidi Montag, it’s now a little Bugatti Veyron wanna-be. And while it might pass off as just that to some folks, those who know will just shake their heads in disgust. Truth be told though, the detail and amount of work that’s put into this project is overwhelmingly respectable. For the most part the conversion is well executed, and like we said, it could pass as a Bugatti Veyron to an unsuspecting layman.

We respect the work and the concept, but would we ever be caught dead driving this thing? Um… no!

[source: GT Spirit]

We hope you haven’t eaten lunch yet, because we promise what you are about to see is sure to make even the best of us a little nauseous.  Allow us to introduce you to the Geely GE and the Hautai – Chinese clones of the Rolls Royce Phantom and Bentley Flying Spur.

Geely GE: un-Rolls Royce Phantom
This,  ladies and gentlemen, is the Geely GE.  And the first thing we will tell you about the GE, is that the executives at Rolls Royce are not amused that the unmistakable Rolls Royce look is being copied by Geely.  While Rolls Royce & their lawyers are not yet saying that they intend on suing Geely, Rolls Royce has publicly stated that they are, in plain English, keeping their options open and are meeting with legal advisers.  The Geely GE is expected to sell for £30,000 – or about $44,000 USD.  This is significantly lower than a £262,000/$400,000 authentic Rolls Royce Phantom, however, the question is: Would you want to be seen in a Geely GE?  Would it impress those around you?  It’s like buying a replica Rolex, Panerai, or any fine watch for that matter.  Many watch enthusiasts can tell a replica from a mile away, and if you are trying to impress someone often times it works out the complete opposite.  If you were to pull up in a Geely GE to an exotic/fine luxury car meet, most people would spot/call this car out a mile away.

Hautai: The Baby Bentley for the Baller on a Budget (How’s that for a tongue twister?)
In a close second in the luxury copycat war is the Hautai [no model name released yet] copycat Bentley Flying Spur.   From the back and side it looks like…well…a Bentley Flying Spur.  From the front it looks like a mixed breed Hyundai and Bentley gone bad.

Where I live – Naples, FL, I always refer to the Bentley as the Naples Camry, because I literally see 25 of them a week.  In most cities though, catching a glimpse of a Bentley is a rare sight – a rare glimpse of rolling luxury and prestige.  Aparently the Huatai Automobile Group, based in Beijing, China [who by the way, specializes in SUVs), has the ability to build 200,000 of these vehicles annually.  200,000! To put this into perspective, in 2007 Bentley only produced 10,000 cars per year total and only around 4,000 of these were Flying Spurs.   Unfortunately very little is known about this Hautai model right now, but you can count on Automotive Addicts to keep our eyes peeled for developments.

With all of these plans for clones, luxury auto manufacturers are going to become increasingly worried about preserving the image of their brand and we are bound to see some lawsuits in the future.  We can’t wait to find out who will be the next company to send us pictures of a clone to talk about!  Hopefully it will be a Maybach…