Land Rover to sue the makers of Landwind

Is it a Land Rover? NO! It’s a Landwind. 

According to a report carried by Reuters, the British-based but Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Group has commenced legal proceedings against Chinese automaker Jiangling for knocking off the design of the Range Rover Evoque.

The lawsuit is about the Jiangling’s Landwind X7 (pictured above) which debuted at the 2015 Shanghai Auto Show. We have previously compared this offering from China and the original from the UK, and from our point of view, with the exception of the front grille and Landwind badge, it is for all intents and purposes identical to the Evoque with only the price (about one third the cost of the Land Rover) being the difference.

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The lawsuit has been filed in the Beijing area and is against Jiangling for “actions surrounding copyright and unfair competition relating to this matter”. However, in the report, JLR declined to comment further on the proceedings.

The Landwind X7 began selling in China in November 2014 after a fully imported Evoque had been launched in the market. Since that time, JLR has launched a locally produced version, made in their own factory. The Evoque-Landwind similarity is just one of many copyright clashes that are ongoing in China. Mostly it is unusual for a manufacturer to go after the doppelganger for fear of damaging its own reputation in China for picking on a domestic automaker.

One of the few that have sued with some success is Honda, who won a case against a CR-V wannabe; however, the law doesn’t work fast in China, with the case taking twelve years from start to finish and unlike most other countries, the rewards of success are very limited; Honda was awarded just 2.43 million dollars in compensation.

image: carscoops.com