You know what... really, you think the Lotus 7 is an exceedingly copied car... the Jeep CJ and Wrangler have been equally copied... hell, the original Land Rover/Land Rover Defenders could be considered CJ ripoffs, same with the Toyota FJ40, Suzuki LJ/Samurai, Daewoo Korando, Asia Motors Rocksta, this thing, etc...
...and really, there is a similarity between the Lotus 7 and the Jeep CJ... they're both very simplistic designs with full fenders that harken back to the '40s and earlier... I think the reason that ARE imitated so much is because they are, in their vehicle class, the most simplistic you can get whilst still having the bare necessities, stylewise... it's hard to make AS simple a vehicle without it taking the same overall shape/design...
Well, it's definitely cheaper than a new Jeep... it might be smaller/lighter too... not sure. It's body is made of fiberglass, and the only available engine is a 3 liter turbodiesel.