Consummate copycats

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

This is the new three-door Toyota RAV4 which won't arrive in the country until later this year.

It bears a noteable resemblance to the five-door M-Class Mercedes-Benz that has been in New Zealand for two years.

Both use electronic four-wheel-drive systems, although the RAV4 doesn't have a low-ratio gearbox for the muddy stuff.

The M-Class is bigger, better appointed, comes with a choice of three powerful petrol and diesel engines and can cost - depending on optional goodies - up to three times more than the RAV4.

But the RAV4 is no pushover. It is much lighter than the M-Class and can, in the right hands, tippy-toe its way over demanding terrain.

That's it in a nutshell. About the only thing the two vehicles have in common, then, is four-wheel-drive.

But hang on a sec, what about the look? Toyota's designers obviously had some aspects of the M-Class in mind when they penned the three-door RAV4. The wraparound rear window for starters, and the front headlight assembly, bonnet, waistline and roofline.

Copycat design in the car industry is nothing new. But the Japanese have made it an art form.