Range Rover Evoque (top)/Land Wind X7 (bottom) (Land Rover/Land Wind)
Land Rover is not flattered.
The luxury automaker is planning to complain to Chinese officials about a blatant knock-off of one of its vehicles on sale in the country, Autocar reports.
The Land Wind X7 is the spitting image of the Range Rover Evoque, which is set to be built in China this year for sale there. Even the name is nearly the same as Land Rover, and Land Wind went so far as to file for a patent on the design.
"The fact that this kind of copying is ongoing in China is very disappointing," Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth told Autocar. "The simple principal is that it is not something that should happen; the Intellectual Property is owned by Jaguar Land Rover and if you break that IP then you are in breach of international regulations that apply around the world.”
While the Evoque is priced at over $60,000, the X7 sells for just $22,000.
Land Rover isn’t alone in being on the wrong end of the imitation game. BMW, Lexus and others have had to deal with copycats of their vehicles, and a Ford F-150 clone went on sale there earlier this year.
Analysts say the Chinese legal system offers little recourse in many of these cases, and automakers usually just ignore it, leaving it up to the customers to know the difference between a fake and the real thing, but it doesn’t look like Land Rover is going to take this one lying down.
“I cannot imagine Chinese officials will be happy at any actions that undermine the credibility of the country,” Speth said. ” What we have seen today is not correct."