All Aboard SongSan’s SS Dolphin, a Shameless C1 Imitator

A modern platform with C1 styling sounds good on paper, but SongSan’s SS Dolphin fails to impress in both style and substance.

Foreign interest in American automobiles is nothing new. After all, Buick, GM’s upscale division, is quite popular in China. And the original Corvette represented GM’s attempts to introduce a European style roadster into America. Ultimately, the C1 Corvette is an icon. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that’s why a Chinese automaker decided to copy it. Behold! The SS Dolphin.

As covered by Carscoops, SongSan Motors, a domestic Chinese automaker, recently revealed their SS Dolphin at the 2020 Beijing Auto Show. Overall, the car is a mediocre copy of the original Corvette. Quick glances indicate someone sort of understood what they were doing. However, certain angles starkly show the botched attempt copy in all its ugliness.

SS Dolphin About to set Sail

SongSan Motors apparently likes our aquatic friends so much they named their Corvette imitator after them. Even more strange is there desire to slap SS before the name. Is that another attempt to literally cash in on another famous General Motors moniker? If so, that’s another fail. After all, Dolphin SS sounds way cooler. Perhaps they decided to weirdly reference the Corvette’s history of using other aquatic animals in concept and production models.

Either way, the SS Dolphin is like one of those generic soda brands. They can never live up to the real thing. The above picture easily demonstrates why. Clearly, the “designers” at SongSan wanted to emulate a 1958 Corvette. Only they failed to create an effective copycat. The four headlights each contain two housings inside them. Obviously they’re some type of LED units. Unfortunately, they simply end up looking cluttered. In terms of size, they’re also a bit too small. The Dolphin SS also fails to do anything noteworthy with the grille, which is slightly flatter than the real thing. There’s also an odd and abrupt drop off with the front end. As your eyes peer lower on the car, it contracts, an aesthetic that makes it look feeble.

A Sorry Side State

To make matters worse, the SS Dolphin lives up to its nautically-themed name by looking like a boat. At least from the side. The front and rear overhangs look quite absurd. Plus, the wheel arches are entirely too small and the tires themselves appear sunken into the car itself. Again, this all makes the overall design look quite passive. The entire length of the two seater also limits the appeal. In fact, they may have improved things if they designed it to seat four. Either way, the passenger compartment is miles away from the front and rear ends, which makes the whole side look quite like a badly drawn cartoon caricature.

All Quiet Out Back

Surprisingly, the rear end doesn’t look terribly bad. It’s still a bit flat and lacks the curves of the actual C1. That being said, there’s nothing nearly as bad as the stuff around the sides or up front. Fortunately for prospective owners, the Dolphin SS will boast enough trunk space for them to store the hardtop inside for some drop-top fun. But this is no svelte sports car. Once again, SongSan neglected to learn why the C1 design worked. They simply copy and pasted the look onto a platform that is 11.8 inches longer and 3.7 inches taller than the original. No wonder why it looks so weird!

A Pretty Decent Interior

Look, the SS Dolphin almost completely messes up a legendary design. That being said, the interior is a nice blend of retro and modern tech. SongSan competently integrated the screens into the dash. And they got the colors right too. There’s also a decent mix of materials throughout the cabin. Although it looks like they placed the cupholders way too far back.

Anyway, while the company copied the C1’s style, they couldn’t successfully imitate any decent performance car, modern or otherwise. The powertrain will apparently be borrowed from BYD, another Chinese automaker. It’s a 1.5 liter gasoline engine paired with a 16 kWh battery. The plug-in hybrid will allow the SS Dolphin to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds. That’s a fairly sluggish figure for a modern sports car. Additionally, it’s not what anyone would expect from something costing $86,613, which is the starting price for the SongSan. Yikes!

While it’s nice that international outfits still look abroad for inspiration, the SS Dolphin is clearly a step too far. To be fair, GM probably doesn’t too much about this vehicle. They’ve got a thoroughly modern Corvette available that puts to shame any Chinese performance vehicle. In any event, 70 years from now, the likelihood of anyone remembering this abomination is pretty slim.

Photos: SongSan Motors

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