Landwind X7

The Landwind X7 is a compact crossover SUV produced by Chinese car manufacturer Landwind from August 2015 to March 2019. The car received global media attention, because the car was regarded as a cheap copy of the Range Rover Evoque. As a result, Jaguar Land Rover had tried to prevent the Landwind X7 from entering the market. On 22 March 2019, after four years of sales, a Chinese court ruled that Landwind had copied five unique design elements and ordered a cease of production and sales immediately, in addition to paying Jaguar Land Rover compensation.

Before the 2017 facelift, the car was sold with a 2.0 L Mitsubishi-sourced engine, that produces a maximum of at 5,500 rpm. The maximum torque is . After the 2017 update, the engine was replaced by a 1.5 L Ford GTDI engine with 250 N·m that produces between 5,400 and 5,700 rpm. The 1.5 L version has a top speed of , while the 2.0 L was listed as having a top speed of over .

Background

News of the Landwind X7 first emerged in April 2014, when Chinese car website ''Autohome'' showed pictures of the car under the name "Landwind E32". It claimed the pictures came from a patent filing by Landwind. The news report also contained specifications of the car. In May, the X7 was first spotted out in the open. The Landwind X7 was officially revealed in November 2014 at the Guangzhou Auto Show. Before it entered the market, the car was also shown at the 2015 edition of Auto Shanghai. Sales of the Landwind X7 in China started in August 2015. It was offered in three trim levels.

File:Landwind X7 2 China 2016-04-07.jpg, Pre-facelift Landwind X7
File:Landwind X7 02 China 2016-04-03.jpg, Rear of the pre-facelift X7

2018 facelift

A facelifted model was first shown at the 2017 Guangzhou Auto Show in November. The exterior was altered, a new cheaper 1.5-litre engine was introduced, and the transmission was updated. British automobile magazine '' Autocar'' wrote the most significant external changes were the new front bumper and the adjusted back. The X7 is sold in five trim levels.

File:Landwind X7 facelift China 2018-03-12.jpg, Landwind X7 facelift
File:Landwind X7 facelift 002.jpg, Landwind X7 facelift rear

Controversy

The Landwind X7 received worldwide media attention because of the car's resemblance to the Range Rover Evoque. Although the designs of the cars are similar, the X7 was barely over one third of the price of the Evoque when the former hit the market. Prices of the X7 started at ¥135,000 (US$ 21,700 as of August 2015), while the starting price of the Evoque amounted to ¥398,000 (US$ 64,000 as of August 2015). After a new smaller engine was introduced in 2017, the X7's starting price dropped to just under ¥100,000 (US$ 15,000 as of November 2017). Kits for the X7 are sold in China in order to make the car look more like the Evoque. Such kits include the grille, logos, and badges of the Evoque.

The unveiling of the X7 came just after Land Rover's parent company Jaguar Land Rover opened a new factory in the Chinese city Changshu in October 2014. The factory produces the Evoque and Discovery Sport for the Chinese market. The Evoque was unveiled for the Chinese market in November 2014 at the Guangzhou Auto Show, where the X7 was unveiled as well. Sales of the Evoque in China started in March 2015, five months before sales of the X7 began.

File:2017 Range Rover Evoque HSE 2.0 Front.jpg, A Range Rover Evoque, which the Landwind X7 was found to be copying the design of
File:Land Wind X7.jpg, Landwind X7 with full Range Rover Evoque badging

Jaguar Land Rover's reaction and legal action

Jaguar Land Rover's first response came during the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2014, when car designer Ian Callum, who works for Jaguar, tweeted pictures of the car and pointed out the resemblance between the X7 and the Evoque. Furthermore, the company stated that it was investigating whether the Evoque's design elements were copied by Jiangling Motors, Landwind's parent company, and that it would "take whatever steps are appropriate to protect its intellectual property." Jaguar Land Rover later went to court in China, but its complaints were dismissed in early 2015. At the 2015 edition of Auto Shanghai, Jaguar Land Rover's CEO Ralf Speth said he regretted "that all of a sudden, copy-paste is coming up again." He added that his company could not do anything, since there were no laws against copying cars.

Both Jaguar Land Rover and Jiangling Motors had filed design patents for the Evoque and the X7, respectively, but both patents were annulled in 2016. The patent for the exterior design of the Evoque in China was declared invalid in April by the Chinese intellectual property regulator, because the car was unveiled before the patent was filed in China in November 2011. The nullification happened at the request of Jiangling Motors. The X7's patent was annulled shortly thereafter at Jaguar Land Rover's request, because the design was too related to the Evoque's design.

In June 2016, Jaguar Land Rover took legal action against Jiangling Motors again in a Beijing court. The car manufacturer blamed Jiangling for copyright infringement and unfair competition. It was a rare move; most non-Chinese car manufacturers choose not to go to court over design copying by Chinese companies because of the small likelihood of winning such lawsuit. In the same month, an unnamed source said to ''Reuters'' that Jiangling had agreed with Jaguar Land Rover it would not export the X7 to Brazil. According to that same source, both companies had also discussed what would be acceptable in a design update for the X7. On 22 March 2019, the Beijing Chaoyang District Court ruled in favor of Jaguar Land Rover, saying that Landwind had copied five unique design elements and ordered a cease of production and sales immediately, in addition to paying Jaguar Land Rover compensation.

References

External links

Landwind X7 specs
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Landwind vehicles
Crossover sport utility vehicles
Cars of China
Cars introduced in 2015
Cars discontinued in 2019
2010s cars
Compact sport utility vehicles