Topic: Monty495 - Solved: Saleen/WM Motors XLD

[el_monty]

Fellow Autopuzzlers, for a point please identify this car.

Don't be naughty! Stay away from Google Search by Image, kids.

[el_monty]

Up to the Experts.

[gilescooperuk]

Proposal for vw/Audi etc group, looks very similar to an a6

[el_monty]

No connection to VW group.

[gte4289]

Asian?

[el_monty]

Asian?

No

[gte4289]

European?

[el_monty]

European?

No.

[gilescooperuk]

American

[gte4289]

When it comes to publicity generated by Chinese automobile manufacturers (and WM Motor in particular), it can be difficult to separate the truth from fiction. With that in mind, this is supposedly the WM Motor XLD Luxury Sedan reworked by Saleen.

I have no idea what involvement (if any) Saleen Automotive had in this vehicle. Saleen failed in its first attempt at the Chinese market in 2014. In 2017, Saleen partnered with Jiangsu Secco Automobile Technology Corporation to produce Saleen vehicles at a Chinese factory. Where does this vehicle (shown in 2015) fit into all of this?

Here are images that purport to show the vehicle at 2015 motor shows in Guangzhou and Chengdu, respectively. (Is the '430S' on the plate another model designation?)

[gte4289]

From the WM Motor website under 'Concept Vehicles'. Grille badge looks like two words (not just 'Saleen') and 'Saleen' on the steering wheel looks P-Shopped in after-the-fact.

[gte4289]

Resemblance coincidental?

[el_monty]

When it comes to publicity generated by Chinese automobile manufacturers (and WM Motor in particular), it can be difficult to separate the truth from fiction. With that in mind, this is supposedly the WM Motor XLD Luxury Sedan reworked by Saleen.

I have no idea what involvement (if any) Saleen Automotive had in this vehicle. Saleen failed in its first attempt at the Chinese market in 2014. In 2017, Saleen partnered with Jiangsu Secco Automobile Technology Corporation to produce Saleen vehicles at a Chinese factory. Where does this vehicle (shown in 2015) fit into all of this?

Here are images that purport to show the vehicle at 2015 motor shows in Guangzhou and Chengdu, respectively. (Is the '430S' on the plate another model designation?)

You are right, this car was more Chinese than American, I was misremembering the (non-)importance of the Saleen connection. I should have said "Yes" when you asked if it was Asian, Anyway, you found it, congrats for the point! For a while I held on to this puzzle, doubting if the car had really existed or if it was just a photoshop job posted on the old WM Motors website, but it was when I came across these same pictures from the Chengdu show when I decided to post it. I am not sure if this WM Motors company is actually the same WM Motors that makes the Weltmeister electric SUVs or not.

[el_monty]

Resemblance coincidental?

Not at all, of course. It was just a restyled Impala.

[gte4289]

I'm pretty sure it's the same WM Motor. I recall an incident where this company released press photos of an upcoming SUV that turned out to actually be Photoshopped images of an existing Mitsubishi or Isuzu vehicle.

[el_monty]

I'm pretty sure it's the same WM Motor. I recall an incident where this company released press photos of an upcoming SUV that turned out to actually be Photoshopped images of an existing Mitsubishi or Isuzu vehicle.

Yes I remember that too, that was the Weltmeister one for sure. Having some experience in the Chinese industry, my theory about what happened there is that WM probably subcontracted a number of small design studios to provide them with proposals, and one of them used the Mitsubishi photographs as a basis to Photoshop their designs on top of them, which is a very common practice in China (it doesn't necessarily mean that the design itself will be a copy of what's underneath. They do it just to present photo-realistic images, which Chinese manufacturers demand, making sure that the perspective, shadows and background will be accurate). Then the pictures of this studio, which had probably been rejected, were leaked to the press, and this is why WM later denied involvement in their creation. Images comparable to those are created by the thousands in China every week, and I don't think that that is as big a deal as the articles written at the time made it seem. However, they were probably not meant for public distribution.