This Chinese Vacuum Maker Is Going To Make The Fake Bugatti Of Your Knockoff Dreams

I think we’re largely past the period where Chinese cars tended to “borrow” their styling from other global automakers’ designs. The Chinese auto industry has absolutely proven that they have their own unique design vocabulary and aesthetic, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still occasionally see something that sure looks like the design process involved a lot of ctrl-C and ctrl-V.  A great example of this is a new supercar from Chinese vacuum cleaner tech powerhouse Dreame, which looks pretty much like a Bugatti Chiron you’d order from Temu, Alibaba, or Wish.com. At the same time, it looks pretty good, too, and is an all-electric car, so it’s definitely not a copy of anything under the skin.

Dreame announced they’d be moving into the car business from the vacuum business last month, following in the footsteps of vacuum giant Dyson, at least initially, since Dyson gave up on cars. Interestingly, Dreame is considering building the still-hypothetical car in Berlin, and, according to Chinese site ITHome, that facility would be “adjacent to Tesla’s German factory, with the new factory expected to be 1.2 times the size of Tesla’s Berlin factory.”

Why is that? Does that imply some sharing of resources, like batteries or drive units? It’s not clear just yet.

The company did release renderings of the proposed car, which they intend to show at CES in Las Vegas next year. But here, look at it for yourself:

It’s not exactly a Bugatti Chiron – the proportions are a bit different, and it almost looks like it may be a four-door design? See that shutline in the middle of the side there? Are we looking at a four-door Chiron knockoff?

All of the crucial Bugatti design cues seem to be here, with the large C-shaped motif at the sides and, most significantly, the trademark Bugatti horseshoe grille. Let’s just take a quick look at these side-by-side:

There are different details, sure, but damn, that’s pretty shameless. Is it close enough for Bugatti to do anything about, legally? I have no idea, but if I had to guess at a possible point of contention, I’d be looking at that grille shape, which has been a Bugatti hallmark for well over a century.

The interior rendering looks pretty much like any recent car rendering, if we’re honest, all big screens and wrapping planes and ambient lighting and all that. I wish I could tell from this image if there actually is a rear seat; that’d be the really exciting differentiator here. Has anyone ever made a genuine four-door supercar? Would this even qualify? Who knows; it’s all just speculation and renders right now.

I won’t lie, though: I kind of love seeing a bit of the piss taken out of Bugatti. If this thing actually makes it to market and sells in the hundreds of thousands instead of millions and can be mistaken for a Chiron from 15 feet away, then I think that’d be pretty hilarious.