Land Rover Is Going After BYD Over This Alleged Defender Lookalike: Report

Jaguar Land Rover is challenging BYD over its Defender-like SUV. The dispute has already prompted raids on BYD's Dutch offices.

Photo by: BYD

By: Rob Stumpf

Nov 9, at 4:37pm ET

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BYD's offices in the Netherlands were reportedly raided as part of a legal dispute with Jaguar Land Rover.
Bailiffs collected digital records over allegations that BYD may have reversed-engineered the Land Rover Defender to build the BYD Ti7.
Court proceedings begin later this week, just as the Ti7 hits the showroom floor in Europe.

Court-appointed bailiffs reportedly raided two BYD offices on behalf of Jaguar Land Rover. The issue? JLR reportedly has a problem with the Chinese automaker's Ti7, alleging that it infringes on the UK-based firm's intellectual property.

The Times reports that two BYD offices in the Netherlands were raided back in August over the alleged copycat model. During the raid, bailiffs seized digital records related to the development of the Ti7. According to the report, a Dutch court will decide later this week whether JLR's claims against BYD can proceed. The Ti7 should reach European customers soon.

Photo by: BYD

Both BYD and JLR declined to comment when reached by InsideEVs sister site Motor1.

Visually, the similarities between the the BYD Ti7 and Land Rover Defender aren't hard to understand. But there might be more to it than just BYD having a similar boxy styling. According to The Times, JLR suspects that engineers at BYD may have dismantled and reverse engineered a Defender as part of the R&D process.

That alone isn't really an uncommon practice. Heck, any automaker worth its salt benchmarks models from competitors. But if BYD used any of that proprietary and protected tech in the production version of the Ti7, it could be a bigger problem.

BYD originally launched the Ti7 in China in September 2025 starting at under $27,000. It released a battery-electric back in April for $29,900 and plans to begin delivering the Ti7 in Europe as early as January.

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European versions of the Ti7 start at around $64,500 versus the comparable 7-seater version of the Land Rover Defender 110 running nearly $92,000. Naturally, you can see why JRL might be a bit miffed about BYD coming to market in Europe with the Ti7.

This also isn't unexplored territory for JLR. It's been down the litigious path before to defend its IP against other automakers—namely British automaker Ineos and Chinese brand Jiangling. While it lost the case against Ineos, it did win the 2019 legal battle against Jiangling, finding that its Landwind X7 was too similar to the Range Rover Evoque.