Landwind Explained

Landwind
Type:Joint venture
Fate:Bankruptcy
Foundation:2004
Defunct:2022
Area Served:China
Industry:Automotive
Products:Automobiles
Owner:Jiangling Motor Holding
Module:
Child:yes
T:陸風
S:陆风
P:Lùfēng
W:Lu4-fêng1
Mi:pronounced as /lufəŋ/
J:Luk6 fung1
Y:Luhk fūng
L:Landwind
Order:st

Landwind was an automobile marque owned by the Chinese automaker Jiangling Motor Holding (JMH), a joint venture between Jiangxi Guokong Automotive Investment Corporation (50%), Jiangling Motors Corporation Group (25%) and Changan Automobile (25%).[1]

History

Creation and early years

Landwind traces its origins back to 1998 when the then-chairman of JMCG, Sun Min, established Jiangling Lufeng (Landwind) Automobile Co., Ltd. His intention was to create an independent marque to strengthen JMCG's own technical development and reduce its dependence on Ford and Isuzu. While the cars would be designed by Lufeng, the production would be made on Isuzu's production lines. Ford opposed the project and it eventually was abandoned.[2] Landwinds were on sale by 2002 and the marque was relaunched in November 2004 by Jiangling Motor Holding.[3]

The Landwind X5 debuted at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2012.[4]

Conflict with JLR

In 2005, when Jiangling Motor Holding registered the marque's English-language name as, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) lodged a complaint before the European Union, alleging the name was too similar to . In 2011, the complaint was dismissed.[5] [6]

In 2016, JLR sued Jiangling Motor Holding at the Beijing Chaoyang District Court for unfair competition and copyright infringement, as it alleged the Landwind X7 design was a copy of the Range Rover Evoque. In 2019, the Court dismissed the copyright infringement case, as both the Jiangling Holding and JLR intellectual property claims in China for the vehicle had been made improperly and were invalid within the country. As for the unfair competition case, the Court ruled in favour of JLR, and the X7s were temporarily banned from being sold and produced in China, although Jiangling Holding could appeal the verdict.[5] [6] Media outlets erroneously reported that JLR had won the copyright infringement case, following a JLR press release,[7] and that the company being sued was Jiangling Motors.[8] Jiangling Motors published a press release denying it was involved in the proceedings.[9] Later, as JLR partially fixed its press release indicating the company it had sued was Jiangling Motor Holding instead of Jiangling Motors, news agency Reuters corrected its newswire on that point, although it did not apologise for not fact-checking JLR's information.[10]

End of operations

In 2019, Landwind only sold about 1,000 vehicles after a high of 80,000 in 2016. By 2020, production of Landwind-badged vehicles had ceased and the company has stopped its operations. From 2021, the Landwind factory has been transferred to the Changan Automobile, where the previous co-owner of the defunct joint-venture had now started manufacturing of its own model, Raeton CC.[11]

Products

Landwind's range of products had the following models:[12]

Landwind products in development included a large SUV codenamed E32 planned to be positioned above the Landwind X5 and originally intended for launch in China in 2014.[18]

Sales

Calendar yearSales (China only)
20057,954[19]
200610,162
20079,899
20085,120
20094,556
201015,151
201114,017
201212,501
201321,271
201434,002
201543,099
201680,002

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 爱驰"割肉"退出江铃控股,陆风汽车重组失败原因何在?. Aiways "cuts fat" and withdrews from Jiangling Holdings, what is the reason for the failure of Landwind's restructuring?. zh . sohu.com . 2 July 2021 . 10 July 2021.
  2. Web site: zh:江铃人事地震引发合资变局 福特已萌生退意? . http://finance.sina.com.cn/b/20040301/0844651645.shtml?from=wap . The Jiangling personnel earthquake triggered a joint venture change. Ford has already retired? . zh . finance.sina.com.cn . 1 March 2004 . Chen . Haisheng. 3 February 2019.
  3. Web site: zh:陆风 . http://car.bitauto.com/landwind/ . Landwind . zh . car.bitauto.com . 3 February 2019.
  4. News: Landwind X5 SUV debuts at the Guangzhou Auto Show. 7 January 2013. Car News China. 23 November 2012.
  5. Web site: zh:14年鏖战三回合,路虎与陆风到底谁赢了? . http://www.autoweekly.com.cn/cj/2019/0419/1917405.html . In the three rounds of 14 years of fighting who wins, Land Rover or Landwind? . zh . autoweekly.com.cn . 19 April 2019 . 21 April 2019 . 21 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190421221806/http://www.autoweekly.com.cn/cj/2019/0419/1917405.html . dead .
  6. Web site: 路虎VS陆风 第一次有人从这个角度讲明白这件事 . Land Rover VS Landwind. The case from a different perspective . zh . sohu.com.cn . 10 April 2019. 21 April 2019.
  7. Web site: Land Rover Finally Wins Case Against Chinese Evoque Clone. 2019-03-22. Carscoops. en-US. 2019-03-22.
  8. News: Land Rover Wins Over Chinese Court—but Not Car Buyers . 21 April 2019 . Wilmot . Stephen . The Wall Street Journal . 23 March 2019.
  9. Announcement . 21 April 2019 . JMC . 26 March 2019.
  10. News: Corrected: Jaguar Land Rover wins case against Jiangling Holdings in China . 22 April 2019 . Reuters . 1 April 2019 . Yahoo Finance . https://archive.today/20190423002442/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jaguar-land-rover-wins-case-143910588.html?guccounter=1 . 23 April 2019 . live .
  11. Web site: Breevoort . Leo . 2023-07-09 . The Big Read – Jiangling (3/3) – The Landwind story . 2024-02-14 . CarNewsChina.com . en-US.
  12. Web site: Product list. 7 January 2013. Landwind. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121228025052/http://www.landwind.com/product/product_list.shtml. 28 December 2012.
  13. News: Landwind to Launch X5 CUV. 7 January 2013. China Auto Web. 15 October 2012.
  14. News: Landwind X5 SUV launched on the China car market. 7 January 2013. Car News China. 5 January 2013.
  15. Web site: Landwind Xiaoyao Launched on the Chinese Car Market. Car News China. 18 May 2018. 8 January 2018.
  16. News: Zhang . Benjamin . 10 August 2015 . China has knocked off a Range Rover and is selling it at a third of the price of the real thing . Business Insider UK . 11 August 2015.
  17. News: Neuer Wind aus Osten. 7 January 2013. Auto Bild. 17 September 2010.
  18. News: Landwind is working on large SUV for the Chinese auto market. 13 January 2013. Car News China. 11 January 2013.
  19. Web site: Landwind. Left Lane. 17 October 2016. 20 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161020121511/http://left-lane.com/china-car-sales-data/landwind/. dead.