01
Origins
The 320 of 2008 was Lifan's style play: a city car whose face borrowed unmistakably from the BMW Mini's — round lamps, hexagonal grille, contrast roof — over thoroughly economical mechanicals, at a fraction of the original's price. The resemblance was the marketing; export markets from Russia to Peru embraced the joke and the value together. Domestically it added personality to a lineup otherwise anonymous. The 320 belongs to the copycat era's lighter side — homage as entry strategy, soon abandoned as Chinese design matured — and to Lifan's emerging-market playbook, where a familiar face at half price asked no forgiveness and needed none. In Lima and Krasnoyarsk, the little Lifan's face still raises knowing smiles.
2010 Lifan 320 enginebayview · Swoolverton · CC BY-SA 3.0
