JLR is getting no relief from the continued sale of the Chinese knock-off of the Range Rover Evoque, the “Landwind“ X7. The X7 continues to be produced and sold in fairly significant numbers, despite JLR's best efforts to take Landwind’s parent company, Jiangling Motors to task in the both the media and the courts.
The UK's "Automotive News" caught up with JLR CEO Ralf Speth at the Shanghai Auto show, where Jiangling was showing off four of the X7’s in their display. According to their reporting, Speth indicated his annoyance on the ongoing issue, which began when the X7 was originally unveiled in 2014.
JLR has not made any progress in persuading Chinese government officials to stop Jiangling, and Speth says he will continue to fight to have the X7 made illegal.
Chinese officials threw a wrench into any legal proceedings on the matte back in 2016. Without much warning, they canceled Land Rover's Chinese patent for the Evoque, one of a few models JLR builds in a partnership with Chinese state-government owned automaker, Chery Automotive (themselves the target of an intellectual property claim some years ago). In response to the loss of the patent and thus any associated intellectual property protection, JLR filed to sue Jiangling directly.
Most infuriating to Speth, perhaps, is that at roughly 1/3 the Evoque Price, Landwind’s sales are clearly making a dent in JLR’s sales, and will continue to do so. Landwind hasn’t provided their sales figure, but The X7 likely accounts for the majority of the 80,000 or so vehicles sold by Landwind in 2016. It is now popular for owners of the X7 to remove the inane Land Wind badges and replace them with look-alike Land Rover items.
Says Speth: "They're doing very well. It's a good car. We know; it's our car."
Landwind X7 with Evoque Badges
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