Chinese automaker BAIC is aiming to strengthen its position in the passenger segment and by the end of this year will bring to market a large SUV with a look strongly reminiscent of current Land Rover Defender 130.
The main profit of BAIC today is generated by the affiliated cargo company Foton Motor, but this Chinese automaker has not yet achieved great success with cars, having managed to bury several brands in its history, including the German Borgward. The parent brand Beijing/BAIC today is not even included in the top 30 most popular brands of the Chinese car market, although its dynamics in recent months is vigorous: in January-May 2023, according to CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers), 39,356 cars were sold, which 80% more than in the same period last year.
BAIC does not leave attempts to launch new brands: in 2017, the group launched the Arcfox electric car brand, and this year the first-born of the Stone brand (translated from English as “stone”), known so far under the plain index 01, will enter the Chinese market. CarNewsChina magazine reports, that the Stone brand was born as a result of the takeover by BAIC of the startup Rox Motor, founded in China in 2021. Apparently, Stone will work in the brutal and environmentally friendly SUV genre that is in great demand today in China.
Stone 01
The first photos and some technical characteristics of the Stone 01 surfaced recently in the electronic database of the Chinese Ministry of Industry. From the description file it follows that the Stone 01 is a three-row plug-in hybrid SUV that is driven by two electric motors (one per axle), peak power of the front is 80 kW (109 hp), the rear is 200 kW ( 272 hp) and a 1.5-liter petrol turbo engine with 112 kW (152 hp) mounted under the hood is used as an electric range extension.
Stone 01
Overall length Stone 01 – 5050 mm (with a spare tire on the tailgate – 5295 mm), width – 1980 mm, height – 1869 mm, wheelbase – 3010 mm. Curb weight – 2580-2660 kg, depending on the version. The maximum speed is 190 km/h. There are no other interesting technical details yet.
Land Rover Defender 130 1/2 Land Rover Defender 130 2/2
The design caused the greatest excitement at this stage of acquaintance with the new product: proportions and some design elements are literally quoted the current Land Rover Defender 130, but the headlights with “smudges” are deliberately made in a typically Asian style in order to make it difficult for JLR to legally attack the Stone 01 in which case. />
BAIC is far from the first time, let’s say, creatively rethinks someone else’s design: the BAIC BJ40 Plus that recently came to Russia resembles the American Jeep Wrangler (by the way, the next generation of BJ40 will not have such a similarity), BJ80 is an illegal clone of the Mercedes-Benz G-class, and the flagship BJ90 is already a legal variation on the Mercedes-Benz GLS theme.
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