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News - Range RoverRange Rover not concerned about imitatorsBritish brand not abandoning Evoque but is focusing on higher-end SUV sales8 Sep 2026 By TOM BAKER in ENGLAND RANGE Rover will increasingly prioritise higher-spending customers, bespoke commissions and brand value over outright sales volume, arguing that its long-term business case does not depend on matching the sales volumes of emerging Chinese premium SUVs that, in some cases, carry similar styling cues.
Range Rover global product and services marketing director Ryan Miller told GoAuto that chasing outright sales numbers was not the performance indicator Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had set for the marque as it expands further into high-margin, ultra-luxe territory.
“Our job really is not to sell lots and lots of cars. Our job is to grow the brand and develop the value within the brand. You don’t just do that by selling lots and having high turnover, do you?” said Mr Miller.
Range Rover global managing director Martin Limpert confirmed that the brand intends to “extend its reach to the ultra-high-net worth individuals and into the market of one-to-one bespoke configurations,” while stressing that the company is “not moving everything upwards” and intends to retain the entry-point Evoque.
This thinking has shaped Range Rover’s gracious response to a new generation of affordable Chinese SUVs, such as Chery’s Jaecoo J5 and J7, both of which have attracted comparisons with the styling of the current Evoque and Velar.
The Jaecoo siblings, which cost multiples less than the Range Rover models they partly resemble, are selling strongly in the United Kingdom and Australia while another new Chinese model, the XPeng GX large SUV that adopts a similar glasshouse to the full-size Range Rover, is confirmed to land in 2027.
Mr Miller told GoAuto that internal data indicated such rivals were not eroding Range Rover’s customer base but said JLR was not ignoring the situation.
“We do keep a watching brief on (the emergence of Chinese rivals), of course. The data is saying that we’re not affected by it at the moment,” he said.
The relatively relaxed response is notable given JLR’s history of dealing with Chinese lookalikes after the British brand encountered a range of intellectual property concerns in the 2010s.
In 2019, JLR won a landmark Beijing court case against Jiangling Holdings over the Landwind X7 in which the court found five distinctive features of the first-generation Evoque had been copied and ordered production, sales and marketing of the Chinese-brand model to cease.
Other Range Rover-inspired Chinese products followed, including the Zotye T900 and related Hunkt Canticie, which drew widespread styling comparisons with the previous-generation Range Rover Sport around 2019-20.
While the Landwind X7 and Hunkt Canticie included panels that were near facsimiles of existing JLR designs, neither the Jaecoo SUVs nor the XPeng GX are carbon copies of existing British models and rather ‘evoke’ some familiar shapes and styling decisions.
“Those (Jaecoo models) probably operate at a lower price point in the marketplace that may well change as we move forwards. We are really clear what we stand for when people pay the extra money they do to buy a Range Rover, because they want the best of the best,” said Mr Miller.
“They are getting something different that other (brands) cannot replicate.”
In the case of Jaecoo, there is also an unusual corporate complication at play which could be influencing the brand’s response – or the lack of one.
Jaecoo is part of Chery, and JLR has operated a 50:50 CJLR joint venture in China with Chery for more than a decade.
This relationship is becoming closer rather than looser as CJLR is now developing and producing a revived Freelander family using Chery architectures and JLR design expertise.
Neither Mr Miller nor Mr Limpert suggested that the CJLR relationship has influenced JLR’s measured reaction to what many pundits have labelled Jaecoo’s “Temu Range Rover” – a reference to China’s ultra-budget online marketplace.
Instead of worrying about potential imitators, Mr Limpert said Range Rover simply intends to move the target. While it is unlikely that the brand’s iconic two-box shape will be altered much (outside of niche models like the GT), the British brand will switch up other styling cues inside and out.
“What is important for us is to stay (as) the original – that’s why we will keep evolving,” he said.
Mr Miller described imitation by Chinese brands as “probably a bit of a badge of honour” that JLR took “as a compliment”.
He said the company’s response was to “control the controllables” by strengthening its products, brand and customer experience.  Read more |
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