I'm sure most who follow the Land Rover blogs will amusedly recall the "Land Wind," last-year's Chinese-built knock-off Range Evoque that had Land Rover execs crying foul. They are likely to do it again when they see the recently revealed Longer Yuelang X1 electric vehicle.
The Longer Yuelang looks like a Range Rover that shrank in the wash. Its makers, Hebei Cook Electric Vehicle Corporation of Hebei Province, and Jiangsu New Grant New Energy Technology Corporation of Jiangsu Province, even had the audacity to put a Land Rover green oval on the back right-hand corner. The vehicle was revealed at the Shandong EV Expo, right next to another golf cart-sized mini SUV with a BMW-inspired front grill.
The manufacturers of these mini-EV versions may think they've hit on a novel marketing strategy due to all the attention they garner in the automotive press. But it clearly runs afoul of international trademark laws and Land Rover isn't likely to sit still for it. Nor is BMW, whose famous ''Roundel" logo was inexplicably used on the hubcap of the mini Range Rover.
For more photos, see the article and image gallery here.
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