This is not an early April Fool’s joke: China’s Guangzhou Automobile Industry group recently purchased the rights to Alfa’s retired 166 flagship sedan. They wasted no time in using the platform and launched the Trumpchi sedan, powered by a 2.0 Twinspark four-cylinder. They’re now said to be working on an SUV dubbed the X-Power that also uses the 166 platform and that will be unveiled next April at the Shanghai Motor Show.
The Chinese automaker preferred to buy the rights to an existing car rather than develop their own because it saves time, giving them an advantage in a market where how quickly a product sees the light of day has a huge influence on its success.
As shown below, there’s almost no exterior ressemblance between the two cars:
The 166 built from 1998 to 2007:
The Trumpchi sedan:
Source
http://www.motori.it/curiosita/8456/alf ... inese.html
http://www.turbo.fr/actualite-automobil ... -trumpchi/
