Changan Chinese Dragon Concept

In 2001, the German tuner brand Keinath showed, with the help of design consultancy EDAG, the 2001 Keinath GT/C coupé. A year later, the 2002 Keinath GT/C Convertible made its debut, powered by a 3.2-liter Chevrolet V6.

Optionally, the reborn Keinaths were also offered with the venerable 5.7-liter Chevrolet V8 engine, giving approximately 340 horsepower.

Weirdly, then, at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show, Changan showed the Chinese Dragon Concept — a convertible that looks suspiciously like the Keinath.

Because it is a Keinath.

(The Changan is not to be confused with the 2009 Geely China Dragon, an honest-to-goodness production car that very much was made — and can still be found on the backstreets of cities in China.)

The Changan Chinese Dragon Concept, said to be fitted with the 3.2-liter V6 engine, was then shown at the 2004 Guangzhou Auto Show…before disappearing forever.

Now, before you snicker, making light of a Chinese company buying a largely unknown automaker’s design, consider the Keinath roadster had a loser-look to begin with, like a Temu Ferrari 550 Maranello.

Subtly updated badging and lights could not hide how this particular sports car had about as much visual flair for passersby as, oh, I don’t know…maybe MUC, the Munich International Airport. In the right light, possibly it could rise to the level of a discontinued Braun appliance.

This is fine, because 20 years later, brands selling EVs in the West — brands you’d know, and ones you don’t — are taking nondescript Chinese cars and doing the bare minimum to them in order to break into (most especially) the North American market.

Today, Changan sells millions of cars, both EVs and more conventionally engined, and does so without needing to purchase old, unloved designs from the West. 

It’s cars like the Keinath that, logically, make me convinced that Chinese engineers, designers, and executives saw what the rest of the world could do — and decided to surpass our designs in measurable ways.

Changan hasn’t resurrected the “Chinese Dragon” moniker for a sports car since, but you can bet that if it does, it’ll finally be a fire-breathing marvel that honours what this automaker is actually capable of.