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Tesla's website seemingly copied by rival Chinese EV maker

Xpeng's website sure looks mighty familiar...

Xpeng website

Look familiar?

Xpeng/Screenshot by Sean Szymkowski/Roadshow

You know what they say. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Yet, when it comes to companies and their intellectual property, things can get sticky quickly.

As for Chinese electric car startup Xpeng, it's taken imitation to nearly the highest level. The firm's website now looks almost identical to own website, Electrek first reported late last month. The layout is almost Tesla's to a T: the car, buttons, stats and other elements sit in nearly identical areas. Even the font is similar.

Tesla website

Yeah, very familiar.

Tesla/Screenshot by Sean Szymkowski/Roadshow

As of this morning, it looks like Xpeng made a few changes to make its site a little less of a copycat, but the previous design showed the brand's P7 in a photo very similar to the Tesla Model S on the California-based firm's website. It'd be easy to chalk this up to the aforementioned flattery, but Xpeng has a track record of allegedly poaching Tesla's stuff.

In fact, the two remain embroiled in a lawsuit Tesla filed against Xpeng after the former accused the Chinese company of stealing source code for Tesla's Autopilot system. Xpeng sells a similar feature called "Xpilot." Tesla alleges a former employee, Guangzhi Cao, stole the information and sold it to Xpeng when he began working at the Chinese company. Cao has denied all accusations.

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Sean Szymkowski
It all started with Gran Turismo. From those early PlayStation days, Sean was drawn to anything with four wheels. Prior to joining the Roadshow team, he was a freelance contributor for Motor Authority, The Car Connection and Green Car Reports. As for what's in the garage, Sean owns a 2016 Chevrolet SS, and yes, it has Holden badges.
Sean Szymkowski
It all started with Gran Turismo. From those early PlayStation days, Sean was drawn to anything with four wheels. Prior to joining the Roadshow team, he was a freelance contributor for Motor Authority, The Car Connection and Green Car Reports. As for what's in the garage, Sean owns a 2016 Chevrolet SS, and yes, it has Holden badges.

Article updated on June 8, 2020 at 7:24 AM PDT

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Sean Szymkowski
It all started with Gran Turismo. From those early PlayStation days, Sean was drawn to anything with four wheels. Prior to joining the Roadshow team, he was a freelance contributor for Motor Authority, The Car Connection and Green Car Reports. As for what's in the garage, Sean owns a 2016 Chevrolet SS, and yes, it has Holden badges.
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