BYD Makes a 1958 Corvette Copycat in China, But It Is Not What You Think

The model you see in this story is called Songsan (Loose in Chinese) SS Dolphin. This company was founded by nostalgic motorcycle and car enthusiasts who decided they could customize bikes and make a buck out of their passion. The SS Dolphin is part of that effort.

BYD enters this story as a manufacturing contractor. Songsan does not have a car-production license, so it hired BYD to take care of building the SS Dolphin. Legally speaking, the plug-in hybrid roadster is a BYD, which is quite evident in pictures obtained by CarNewsChina. They show the SS Dolphin also wearing BYD badges, something we do not see on Songsan's website.

CarNewsChina states the SS Dolphin is 4.86 meters long, 1.90 m wide, 1.43 m tall, and has a wheelbase of 2.70 m. Songsan's website tells a different story. According to it, the car is 4.80 m long, 1.85 m wide, and 1.39 m tall, but it does not share its wheelbase. On the official website, you can also learn it offers eight exterior colors (black, red, blue, yellow, white, green, gray, and beige) and three interior options (white, brown, or red).

Songsan chose the SS Dolphin to have BYD's plug-in hybrid architecture, which is something it only briefly mentions on its internet page. That was probably a move to make it easier for this car to get a license plate: in China's crowded megalopolises, you have to buy a license plate for your new vehicle unless it is a PHEV or a BEV. In those cases, the license plates are free.

The vehicle can go from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 5.9 seconds and uses a 1.5-liter engine. It is most certainly the Xiaoyun mill, which was the world's most efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) – with 43% of thermal efficiency – until the Geely DHE1.5 engine raised that bar to 43.32%. According to CarNewsChina, the SS Dolphin uses a six-speed transmission, which the pictures reveal to be an automatic gearbox.

The Chinese website also shared the output: 118 kW (158 hp) from the Xiaoyun engine and 110 kW (148 hp) from the electric motor. Due to losses, the combined number is 235 kW (315 hp) and 535 Nm (394.6 pound-feet). The battery pack can deliver 16 kWh, which is allegedly enough for an electric-only range of 100 kilometers (62 miles). Songsan states the vehicle has a fuel consumption of 3 liters per 100 km (78.4 MPG) and that it has a range of 500 km (311 mi) without inducing anxiety episodes.

As the plug-in hybrid tech proves, the nostalgic looks of the SS Dolphin hide a modern car. It has McPherson suspensions in the front, multilink independent suspensions in the rear, brake discs in all four wheels, ABS, brake distribution, traction control, AEB, and ESC. Songsan says it "meets safety collision standards and passes the most stringent durability and reliability tests."

1958 Corvette units cost as much as their owners want to get depending on how well the car is. The good news is that there is an average price of around $100,000 which can give us an idea of how much someone looking for such a car in the US would pay. According to CarNewsChina, the SS Dolphin was supposed to have an RMB598,000 ($83,293 at the current exchange rate) price tag, but the final one ended up being RMB700,000 ($97,500). That's almost the same average price of the real deal, which may cost way more in China. It may be the case that the SS Dolphin is a bargain in its home market.

Those worried about maintenance may also argue that the Songsan PHEV is a better deal because the company offers a 3-year or 60,000-km (37,282-mile) warranty. In case anything goes wrong with the SS Dolphin, it can be repaired in over 1,000 authorized shops all over China. Remember that the PHEV may also skip the license plate fees due to its green footprint. Some Chinese cities only grant this advantage to BEVs because they claim drivers only buy PHEVs to seize the benefits and never charge their battery packs. Considering many Chinese live in apartments and would have a hard time stopping to charge, it is easy to understand both sides of the story.

Despite all that, I suspect that most people would just ignore that if they could buy an original Corvette instead of the tribute Songsan and BYD tried to pay for that machine – especially if the price difference is not big.