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 Landwind, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) lodged a complaint before the European Union, alleging the name was too similar to Land Rover. 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]
^"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?]. sohu.com (in Chinese). 2 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^Chen, Haisheng (1 March 2004). 江铃人事地震引发合资变局 福特已萌生退意？ [The Jiangling personnel earthquake triggered a joint venture change. Ford has already retired?]. finance.sina.com.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
^陆风 [Landwind]. car.bitauto.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
^ ab14年鏖战三回合，路虎与陆风到底谁赢了？ [In the three rounds of 14 years of fighting who wins, Land Rover or Landwind?]. autoweekly.com.cn (in Chinese). 19 April 2019. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
^ ab"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]. sohu.com.cn (in Chinese). 10 April 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
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