The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
Great Wall's Wey V9X launch ad aped Range Rover Sport; the brand apologised
Wey's V9X SUV reveal looked so much like the Range Rover Sport ad that viewers — and the brand — admitted the copying. It apologised to Land Rover.
Great Wall Motor (Wey / 魏牌)
What happened
In March 2026, Great Wall Motor's premium Wey (魏牌) brand revealed the V9X, a large SUV pitched against the Range Rover Sport. The launch ad was so close in composition, framing and feel to Range Rover Sport material that it was compared frame-by-frame online, and the resemblance was quickly called out as a copycat launch.
The backlash was swift, and Great Wall did not deny it. The company admitted the ad had copied Range Rover Sport and issued an apology to Land Rover, with executives describing the imitation as indefensible ('there can be no justification'). The episode joined a growing run of Chinese automakers tripping over borrowed designs and creative.
For a premium brand whose whole pitch is 'worth the badge', the cost was embarrassment at the exact moment it was trying to be taken seriously next to Land Rover. Borrowing the competitor's ad to sell a car that competes with it read less as homage than as an admission that the brand could not make its own statement.
Why it happened
- A launch borrowed wholesale from Range Rover boomeranged because the V9X is pitched directly against it — copying the rival's ad invited the comparison the brand wanted to win.
- Once the side-by-side stills spread, 'no justification' was the only honest answer, and Great Wall gave it publicly.
- Each new Chinese car brand caught copying another maker makes the next launch just a little harder to be taken seriously.
The lesson
If your launch ad looks like the competitor's, you have already lost the argument you were trying to win. Borrowing a rival's creative to sell against them signals you could not make your own.
Sources
- Carscoops — Chinese Brand Faces Backlash After SUV Ad Looks Suspiciously Familiar
- TechRadar — 'There can be no justification': Chinese automaker apologizes to Land Rover after another big copycat controversy
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