CHINA - Ford see's it's sales grow by a huge 18%, with year to date sales of nearly 200,000

• Ford year-to-date sales total 194,182 vehicles, up 18 percent; 63,350 vehicles sold in February
• Changan Ford Automobile sales through February total 160,119 vehicles, up 29 percent; 48,263 vehicles sold in February
• Jiangling Motor Corporation year-to-date sales total 31,309 vehicles, down 13 percent; 14,054 vehicles sold in February

Ford Motor Company’s sales in China during the first two months of the year increased 18 percent compared to the same period last year, with 194,182 vehicles sold. Ford sold 63,350 vehicles in February, down 9 percent compared to February 2015.

Year-to-date sales for Changan Ford Automobile (CAF), Ford's passenger car joint venture, totaled 160,119 vehicles, up 29 percent compared to last year. CAF sold 48,263 vehicles in February, down 10 percent from 2015.

The Ford Escort continues to be a top-seller for Ford, with 13,173 vehicles sold in February, up 15 percent compared to February 2015.

Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, sold 14,054 vehicles in February, up three percent compared to February 2015. Year-to-date sales totaled 31,309 vehicles, down 13 percent compared to last year. 

How to Steal another brands products and get away with it - Well, go to China, they have no morals there.

TMW THOUGHTS - When you spend billions of Pounds, Dollars or Euro's on making your company one of the best there is, offering thousands of people employment around the globe, giving world class products, with style and capability, it then makes a mockery of all this hard work when others can get away with STEALING IT.

It may sound harsh, calling the Chinese brand thieves, but it's plain to see, the stunning and well made, developed and engineered Evoque, has been a worldwide hit for Land Rover, and therefore Jiangling feel that it is perfectly acceptable to Steal other peoples hard work, and the Chinese government thinks that it is acceptable.

REALLY - The Chinese Government thinks that it is acceptable to steal others designs, and allow this other brand to carry on producing a far inferior product, of course Land Rover have nothing really to worry about, the differential in price means that people will buy the Evoque because it is a Land Rover. 

The pretend car, well, thats for the masses, but for now, Land Rover will be on their guard and will ensure that in the future, no one will be doing this again - and maybe the Chinese Government should look at themselves and see that by courting foreign brands to give jobs and income, should not be then screwed over, in the end, i know who will be the winner, and thats not the Chinese Government or this fake rip off.

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Jaguar Land Rover will not take action against Jiangling Holding Co. over the Chinese joint venture's Land Wind X7, which the U.K. automaker says closely resembles the Range Rover Evoque SUV.

JLR had said it would take "appropriate action" after the X7 was unveiled in November at the Guangzhou auto show in China. Land Wind is a subsidiary of Jiangling Holding Co., a joint venture between Jiangling Motors Co. (Group) and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co.

On Monday at the Shanghai auto show, JLR chief executive Ralf Speth renewed his criticism of Jiangling but said his company cannot prevent the SUV from going on sale. "I really regret that all of a sudden, copy-and-paste is coming up again," Speth told reporters. "There are no laws, there's nothing to protect us, so we have to take it as it is."

The Land Wind X7 will sell in China for about one-third of the price of the Evoque. It has broad fenders, recessed door panels and a sloping roof similar to the Evoque's.

JLR opened a production plant in October near Shanghai. The Evoque has had "steady" sales since production began four weeks ago, according to Bob Grace, who heads the automaker's China operations.

The Land Wind X7 may start sales around July or August at about 150,000 yuan ($24,200), according to Land Wind's website. That compares with the starting price of 448,000 yuan for an Evoque, according to Land Rover's website.

Calls to Jiangling's main line went unanswered. At the Jiangling stand at the Shanghai show, staff handed out four-page brochures outlining specifications for the Land Wind X7. "Imported car? No, China car," read the tag line on one page of the brochure.

Land Rover to complain to Chinese officials about blatent copying of the Evoque.

The Landwind X7 is scheduled to go into production this month and is expected to retail for the equivalent of about 17,700 euros in China.

Land Rover plans to complain to Chinese officials about a close copy of its Range Rover Evoque SUV that debuted at the Guangzhou auto show in China last week.

"Jaguar Land Rover will take whatever steps are appropriate," the company said in a statement to Automotive News Europe.

The X7 SUV, presented by Chinese automaker Landwind, closely resembles the Evoque, right down to the font and the positioning of the lettering on its hood.

"The fact that this kind of copying is ongoing in China is very disappointing," Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth told the UK's Autocar magazine. "I will talk to our officials and I will talk to our partners at Chery to find a way around this situation."

The Landwind X7 was flagged up by Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum, who tweeted a picture of the car from the Guangzhou show, adding “haven’t we seen this somewhere before?”

At the same show Land Rover revealed the first Evoques made at its new manufacturing plant in Changshu, northeast of Shanghai, built with its joint venture partner, Chery Automobile.

Autocar said the Landwind X7 is scheduled to enter production this month and is expected to retail for 134,992 yuan (17,665 euros, $22,000) in China.

That is significantly below the 578,000 yuan (76,000 euro) starting price of the Evoque there, which is more than the SUV's UK starting price because of import duties. Autocar reported that the locally built Evoque, called the Aurora in China, will start at about 385,000 yuan.

Landwind is an SUV-focused brand owned by Jiangling Motor Holding (JMH), the parent company of Jiangling Motor Co. (JMC). Ford has a 31 percent stake in JMC, which makes Ford Transit vans in China among other ventures.

The Landwind X7, top, has borrowed virtually every exterior styling cue from the Range Rover Evoque.

Photo credit: JAY RAMEY

The Landwind X7 is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine from Mitsubishi and is offered with an eight-speed automatic transmission, according to the company’s website. Landwind described the design’s narrow side and rear windows “as giving a strong sense of power and majesty.”

Chinese media earlier this year reported that Landwind had submitted patent drawings for the X7’s design with the Chinese patent office.

Speth told Autocar: "The simple principle is that it is not something that should happen; the intellectual property is owned by Jaguar Land Rover, and if you break that IP then you are in breach of international regulations that apply around the world."

The X7 name will be shared with a forthcoming BMW SUV and joins the X5 and X6 in Landwind’s lineup. BMW said it is powerless to prevent the name clash. “Chinese law doesn't allow companies to protect a combination of letters and numbers, such as X7, X1, 320i etc, it only works with brand and common names such as BMW, Mini, Clubman, Phantom,” a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe.

High-profile disputes between Chinese automakers accused of copying design and engineering from Western cars include the 2008 case when General Motors claimed that its Daewoo Matiz subcompact was copied by Chinese automaker Chery, which marketed a very similar-looking car called the Chery QQ.

The QQ was an extreme example of the sporadic industrial copying that took place in the automotive market, as its doors and a number of other parts were actually interchangeable with the Matiz.

Also in 2008, an Italian court prohibited Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors from importing its Peri subcompact car, ruling it looked too much like the Fiat Panda.

Jay Ramey of AutoWeek contributed

You can reach Nick Gibbs

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