Jaguar Land Rover says it cannot act on 'copycat' claim

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 20 Απριλίου 2015 - 12:28

Jaguar Land Rover cannot take any legal action in its dispute with an alleged Chinese "copycat", the UK carmaker's chief executive admitted on Monday - but he warned that a "copy-paste" approach to production would harm China's industrial image.

In November, when Landwind unveiled its new X-7 SUV, JLR boss Ralph Speth was among critics who said it appeared to be modelled on the Range Rover Evoque - which was beginning to be produced in volume at JLR's China joint venture plant in Changshu, near Shanghai.

But, at a media briefing at this week's Auto Shanghai, one of China's two premier auto shows, he said his company probably did not have legal recourse.

"There are no laws . . . to protect us," Mr Speth claimed. "We have to take it as it is. It's a pity but it is as it is. In Europe, we can be protected against this kind of copy-paste in the design language, in the features but also the technology. You can't be protected in China."

He added: "I really regret that all of a sudden copy-paste is coming up again. That will not help the reputation of China, of Chinese industry at all."

Pan Xinxin, vice general manager of Landwind Motors Marketing, dismissed JLR's criticisms as "irresponsible".

He said: "In our development activities, we have adhered to all national laws and regulations. But during this process we will not respond to every reproach with an attack of our own because the media and the public are capable of making their own judgments."

When the X-7 was unveiled at last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Mr Speth told the Autocar website that he was "disappointed" by Landwind's move and would work with JLR's Chinese joint venture partner, Chery, to try to "find a way around the situation".

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

>But the X-7 was again on display again at Auto Shanghai, which opened on Monday. Landwind executives said they had not decided when their SUV would make its market debut and had not set a price for the vehicle. JLR's China-made Evoques start at Rmb448,000 ($72,260) - a much lower price point than the higher-end models it exports from the UK to the world's largest automotive work. Over the past six years, JLR's annual China sales have grown from just 10,000 units to more than 120,000.

Landwind is a joint venture between two Chinese automakers, Jiangling Motors and Chang'an Auto, and is not the first Chinese automaker to be accused of mimicking foreign marques. Critics have alleged that other companies' designs imitated BMW's X5 SUV and Fiat's Panda.

Although Mr Speth said his company could take no legal action against Landwind, he and other senior JLR executives expressed confidence that Chinese consumers would not be fooled by what they say is a "copycat".

"The Chinese consumer is an intelligent consumer - they know what they are buying," said Bob Grace, head of JLR's China operations. "If you look at that branded product, in no way does it compare to anything that comes out of our factories."

Separately, Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler, dismissed possible copycat concerns for his Mercedes-Benz unit in China. "There's a very high entrance barrier to the premium segment," Mr Zetsche said. "I think very few customers would say 'I want a Mercedes but I'll take the cheaper one.'"

Additional reporting by Wan Li

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation