They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Land Rover seems to disagree. Big time. So much so that its design boss, Gerry McGovern said “we’re nervous about showing show cars a couple of years out as you can be copied just like that.”
Because of blatant copiers from China (Jiangling Motor is the most serious offender with the Landwind X7, a direct copy of the Evoque), McGovern and his team have been forced to re-evaluate the need to create concept cars as a preview for its upcoming models. In fact, there was no concept shown for the Velar, and there may never be a more accurate one for the next-generation Defender after the DC100 shown back in 2011.
Speaking to Autocar, McGovern said that it’s imperative to protect the huge investments that go into the development of new cars – anywhere between £500 million (RM2.8 billion) and £1 billion (RM5.58 billion), depending on the project.
In a rare move to combat imitators, the British company filed a suit against Jiangling Motor last year on the basis of copyright and unfair competition. However, it bears mentioning that global carmakers generally refrain from taking legal action in China due to the poor odds of winning. Also, a lawsuit can be bad for branding if the public in China is under the impression that its domestic car manufacturers are being bullied by a foreign company. Any thoughts, guys?
GALLERY: Previous Landwind X7
GALLERY: Range Rover Evoque (the real one)
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Looks similar but in actual fact much dissimilarity.
Looks like Boyue not rolling out in Malaysia very soon. 2021 maybe.
What about Geely GE?
Like you said, a lawsuit can be bad for branding if the public in China is under the impression that its domestic car manufacturers are being bullied by a foreign company.
Looks like China is following what the Americans are doing by “Bullying” car manufacturer who want to share the Pie to toe the line if they want to “Cari Makan” in China.
I know what I’m writing here are not welcome to the local Chinese but we all know that the China Chinese are the No1 copycat in the world.
whts wrong with copying, Honda been doing it for years, look at the civic, just make sure you called it differently like And Lover, TAND GOVER, something like la hor,
yep land rover defender copied jeep,they didn’t say anything about it
If Lotus brings their concepts to China and somebody copies them, and if Geely the ones suing them, will Geely/Lotus wins?
Should be flattered that people copy your design. It’s not like the people buy the windfall or whatever got the money to buy the real thing anyway. It’s like cheap knock off hard rock Cafe shirts and fake rolexs. You don’t see them complaining.
people are overreacting copycat things these day ,what’s matter of copycat?you already know it is cheap knock off, why bother them?
Can affect brand image & sales. Rough example, people don’t want to buy lancer gt after the inspira is out. I know the inspira is a rebadge but that’s a good example. Once a design is common, people don’t want it. Also its not fun seeing someone take your hard work and make money out of it.
That is China….surprised?