UKCourt bailiffs acting for Jaguar Land Rover have reportedly raided BYD’s offices in the Netherlands and seized digital records, ahead of a preliminary court ruling on Wednesday 11 November. The ruling concerns whether the BYD Ti 7 infringes the intellectual property of the Land Rover Defender. The raid was reported by The Times and relayed by Electrek, and neither company has confirmed it: JLR declined to comment, and BYD said it had no comment because the case is ongoing.
What is reported so far
According to Electrek, JLR believes BYD stripped down a Defender to reverse engineer some of its technology. BYD says it fully cooperated with JLR’s requests before the raid. Local reports, as Electrek relays them, have BYD’s lawyers calling the raid a “fishing expedition” and saying “too many files were seized”.
No court document has been published, and the outcome of Wednesday’s ruling was not available when this was written. Electrek describes it as a preliminary ruling in an ongoing case, so it is an early step rather than a final judgment on the claim.
The Ti 7 in the UK
BYD opened UK orders for the Ti 7 on 31 July, at £47,995 (~$65,700) on the road. The UK car comes only in the Excellence AWD trim and has seven seats, an arrangement BYD says was designed for the European and UK markets. It is a plug-in hybrid with three electric motors and a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine, giving 402 hp (408 PS) and 0-62 mph in 4.8 seconds. The 35.6 kWh battery gives up to 74 miles of pure-electric range, according to Electrek’s report of BYD’s figures. Customer deliveries are expected to begin in January 2027.
The model is sold in China as the Fangchengbao Tai 7, officially the Ti7, with a different line-up and China-market pricing. BYD uses the Ti 7 name in Europe and the UK.
