diff --git a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProject.java b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProject.java
index fd7ab40ddcf..fd0255780a7 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProject.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProject.java
@@ -1207,7 +1207,8 @@ private void deepCopy( MavenProject project )
         // disown the parent
 
         // copy fields
-        setFile( project.getFile() );
+        file = project.file;
+        basedir = project.basedir;
 
         // don't need a deep copy, they don't get modified or added/removed to/from - but make them unmodifiable to be
         // sure!
diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProjectTest.java b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProjectTest.java
index 1bc75abe24b..02d64b2464c 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProjectTest.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/MavenProjectTest.java
@@ -177,6 +177,17 @@ public void testCloneWithActiveProfile()
                        activeProfilesClone );
     }
 
+    public void testCloneWithBaseDir()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File f = getFileForClasspathResource( "canonical-pom.xml" );
+        MavenProject projectToClone = getProject( f );
+        projectToClone.setPomFile( new File( new File( f.getParentFile(), "target" ), "flattened.xml" ) );
+        MavenProject clonedProject = projectToClone.clone();
+        assertEquals( "POM file is preserved across clone", projectToClone.getFile(), clonedProject.getFile() );
+        assertEquals( "Base directory is preserved across clone", projectToClone.getBasedir(), clonedProject.getBasedir() );
+    }
+
     public void testUndefinedOutputDirectory()
         throws Exception
     {