Imitation is supposedly the highest form of flattery, but in the modern world, it is usually just a shameless shortcut to save money on a styling department. Enter the Luxeed RX, a fresh electric SUV spawned from the tech-heavy marriage between Huawei and Chery under the HIMA ecosystem. Set for an official commercial launch this autumn, the vehicle’s official registration filings in China have already pulled back the curtain on its massive dimensions: 5,02 m in length, 2 m in width, and 1,58 m in height, all riding on a generous 3 m wheelbase. To make this heavyweight sound less like a bloated family hauler, marketing executives have labeled it an “FUV”. If that acronym sounds painfully familiar, it is because Ferrari famously coined it to avoid calling the Purosangue a regular SUV.
The naming choice is hardly a coincidence. Visually, the Luxeed RX looks like it was sketched by an intern looking at a Purosangue through greasy tracing paper. The closed front fascia, the sharp L-shaped headlights, the aggressively low-slung roofline, and the triple-split air intakes are a textbook copy-paste job of Maranello’s high-riding thoroughbred.
On paper, the technical package is admittedly serious, boasting four premium LiDAR sensors and two distinct powertrain flavors. The base single-motor version delivers around 372 HP, while the high-performance dual-motor variant throws an additional 217 HP unit into the mix, pushing the crossover into true electric performance territory.
However, the real entertainment started when Luxeed’s executive VP, Zhao Changjiang, attempted to legitimize the blatant clone by bragging that the brand had allegedly hired a former Ferrari head of design, while also tapping BMW and Aston Martin alumni for chassis tuning. Maranello’s response was swift, sharp, and delightfully public.
Ingrid Sun, the Communication Director for Ferrari Greater China, took to social media to openly demand the exact name of this phantom styling chief, dryly reminding the industry that Flavio Manzoni has been the undisputed king of Ferrari design since January 2010.
For Luxeed, this humiliating public reality check arrives at a highly delicate moment. The brand has been suffering from a continuous year-over-year sales slump since last December. The RX was supposed to be the ultimate savior to restore their fading visibility within the HIMA ecosystem, but ahead of its autumn debut, it is currently proving that while you can easily plagiarize Italian sheet metal, you cannot buy its dignity.
