BYD offices in the Netherlands faced a court-ordered raid last August on behalf of Land Rover's Jaguar Land Rover division, according to The Times. The raid sought documents about how a Land Rover Defender was used during development of BYD's Ti7 SUV, a three-row hybrid with a boxy shape and a distinctive painted panel above the beltline that closely resembles the current Defender.
The Ti7 starts at roughly $27,000 less than the cheapest three-row Defender available on the U.K. market. BYD's model offers a plug-in hybrid powertrain with seven seats, while Land Rover's plug-in Defender in England comes with only six seats.
This marks Land Rover's second design-similarity dispute with another automaker. The company previously pursued legal action against Ineos over its Grenadier, which also resembled a Defender but was cleared for sale in 2020.
A Dutch court will decide whether to allow the case against BYD to proceed, according to Top Gear.