X are equivalent to Y in Z

Question

I'm pretty new to English StackExchange, and English is not my first language, so I'm not even sure what tags to look for. So, I apologize if this has been discussed before.

I'm writing up a blog and somehow I got confused with the proper grammar for a sentence that compares one thing to another thing of a different category. For example, I want to compare Dodge Chargers, the car, with Cheetahs, the animal. Which one is the proper sentence:

Dodge Chargers are equivalent to Cheetahs in the animal kingdom.

Dodge Chargers are equivalent to Cheetahs in automobiles.

Do I use the category from the first or second subject?

Answer 1

To avoid ambiguity, use

Dodge Chargers in automobiles are equivalent to cheetahs in the animal kingdom.

In

Dodge Chargers are equivalent to cheetahs in the animal kingdom

in the animal kingdom refers to cheetahs, while in

Dodge Chargers are equivalent to cheetahs in automobiles

in automobiles refers to Dodge Chargers and may be seen as a rewriting of

In automobiles, Dodge Chargers are equivalent to cheetahs.

Answer 2

In the automobile world, Dodge Chargers are the equivalent of cheetahs in the animal kingdom.

Answer 3

*Dodge Chargers are equivalent to cheetahs in automobiles.

has a (kind of silly) misplaced modifier, so it might be better to rewrite it with in automobiles in front, as Clark Kent did at the end of his answer.

For what it's worth, I would probably just write:

Dodge Chargers are the cheetahs of the automobile world.

Answer 4

Use the category from the second subject. Essentially, you're using an analogy i.e.:

Dodge Charger:cars::cheetah:animals

but omitting the first category.