Automotive News Europe has reported that Jaguar Land Rover will not take legal action against Chinese manufacturer Jiangling Motors for that company's Landwind X7 – a brazen copy of the Range Rover Evoque.
JLR chief executive, Ralf Speth, was quoted in the article as saying that there are no legal avenues available to the Indian-owned company in this matter.
"I really regret that all of a sudden, copy-and-paste is coming up again," Speth said. "There are no laws, there's nothing to protect us, so we have to take it as it is."
It's further salt in the wound for JLR, which promised to seek legal recourse against Jiangling when the Landwind X7 was unveiled at China's Guangzhou motor show in November last year. The Chinese knock-off is soon to enter production and is expected to sell at a considerably lower price than the Range Rover Evoque (first image), which is already in production in China.
According to Automotive News Europe, the Landwind is set to go on sale in China around July or August, priced at 150,000 yuan – about AUD $31,390. Land Rover already sells the Evoque in China from 448,000 yuan, which equates to AUD $93,755. Jiangling Motors, owner of the Landwind brand, has a joint-venture association with Ford, which used to own Jaguar and Land Rover before selling the two iconic brands to Tata.
The report notes that staff on the Jiangling stand at this week's Shanghai show were handing out brochures for the Landwind X7, featuring the apparently straight-faced tagline: "Imported car? No, China car."