• Analysis
BYD Netherlands raid: bailiffs seize records as JLR copycat car claim heads to court
Court-ordered bailiffs acting for Jaguar Land Rover seized digital records from BYD's offices in the Netherlands in August, and a court in The Hague this week will decide whether BYD has a case to answer over claims its Ti7 SUV infringes Land Rover Defender intellectual property.
Records seized before a Hague hearing
The BYD Netherlands raid came in August, when bailiffs acting for Jaguar Land Rover seized digital records from the Chinese carmaker's offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp, in a raid reported by the Sunday Times. The seizure was ordered by a court.
JLR suspected BYD had reverse-engineered some of the technology used in the vehicle and wanted the records secured before they could be destroyed.
The claim over the Ti7
A case in The Hague this week will decide whether BYD has a case to answer over claims its SUV infringes Land Rover Defender intellectual property. Motoring experts have likened the Ti7, a seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV, to the Defender since it went on sale in China in September last year. The BBC's Top Gear magazine called it the "Chinese Defender clone".
BYD's own website makes a feature of the shape, saying the SUV has "an unapologetically boxy profile" delivering an imposing, chunky design.
Ti7 versus Defender on price and sales
BYD plans to launch the Ti7 in the UK in January at £47,995, undercutting the Defender by more than £20,000. JLR's seven-seat Defender 110 starts from £68,465.
- •JLR sold 29,500 Defenders to retail customers between July and September this year
- •That is up from 25,370 in the same quarter a year earlier
JLR's wider push against lookalike cars
The case is not the first time the UK-based carmaker, owned by India's Tata Motors, has pursued copycat vehicles. It won a legal case in 2019, after a three-year battle, stopping Jiangling Motor Corporation from selling a copycat vehicle.
JLR agreed to form a joint venture with Chery in a 2012 deal that later included licensing the discontinued Freelander brand. Chery's Jaecoo, sold outside that venture, has been called the Temu Range Rover because of its similarities to JLR's car and costs £10,000 less.
The Jaecoo was the bestselling car in the UK in October with 10,813 registrations, its market share rising from 2.07% to 4.30%, according to the SMMT. JLR's Range Rover sales fell to 43,300 in the third quarter of this year, from 47,196 in the same months last year.
JLR and BYD declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings.
