Chinese Reproduction of an H Van

With Halloween coming up in few days we felt that posting a tricked-out Citroën H Van reproduction food trailer being offered for sale in China would be appropriate for the season.

It’s made by the Qingdao Kejia Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Qingdao (in the province of Shandong). While they claim to design by heart — unfortunately they do not achieve accuracy. Just the minuscule wheels, let alone the windows, make the rest of the proportions look so far off that it makes an H Van enthusiast cringe.

This Chinese “knock-off” suffers from budget driven directives to make it a super cheap. Prices range from $6,000 – $7,400 US (F.O.B. China) for trailer fitted with; a workbench counter, cupboard, sink, water tank, and interior LED light. Order 5 or more and the price drops by about 20%! Want electric powered mobility (to travel 50 – 80 km at 45 km/h)? That starts at $15,000 US.

OK, we get that they are just an homage to the real thing, but with accurate reproduction body panels readily available in Europe to restore H Vans, that can also be put on correctly proportioned frames to make food Kiosks that look like proper H Vans, albeit at a much higher cost, building them in this manner is what we like to see.

We suppose that if these “big toy” H Vans while serving food a playground, fair or other venue, get more people appreciating the real thing when they come across one, well — then that’s a good thing.

But geesh! — what a sad rip-off on an iconic Citroën design!