We unboxed our cheapest Chinese car yet — and what’s inside would give Lexus engineers a heart attack

  • Team Supercar Blondie unboxed the cheapest Chinese car in the series
  • The $3K fake Lexus leaves a lot to be desired
  • Its convincing front is let down by overlooked details, and the rear

 

Published on Apr 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

Last updated on Apr 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Emma Matthews

Lexus engineers should avert their gaze as Supercar Blondie presenters, Nathan Bane and Sergi Galiano, unboxed the cheapest Chinese car we’ve reviewed yet – and this $3,000 fake Lexus leaves a lot to be desired.

The front is pretty convincing, but upon closer inspection, the fake Lexus logo is the wrong color and made from paper, plus the side mirrors and door misalignment would ‘give the guy at the Lexus factory a heart attack’.

Avert your gaze downward, and the wheels fill up most of the wheel well – a marked improvement on previous Chinese cars SB has reviewed, like the $3,500 fake Dodge Ram, plus rear camera and sensors.

“These Chinese knock-offs, they have a chassis and focus 99 percent of their effort on the front, and the rest is ‘whatever’.”

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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”