Great Wall Motors' Wei Jianjun admits that the Wei brand V9 endorsement poster plagiarized Land Rover and is willing to take corresponding responsibility

Great Wall Motors’ subsidiary brand WeiPai is about to launch a new flagship SUV, V9, which has encountered a marketing controversy.

WeiPai announced that Wei Jianjun, founder and chairman of Great Wall Motors, would be the spokesperson for the vehicle, and released a promotional poster featuring the model; in the poster, Wei Jianjun stands facing the V9X SUV, with his left hand touching the hood, and the vehicle’s headlights shining toward the spokesperson. The overall tone is dark red, creating a sense of mystery and sophistication, making it a successful poster.

However, shortly after the poster was released, it drew attention from an internet user.

The user posted on social media claiming that WeiPai V9X’s advertisement design was a copy of their own work, which featured a similar style poster for Land Rover Range Rover Sport; in that poster, a spokesperson named Li Yunrui stands facing the front of the car, with his left hand reaching toward the hood but not touching the vehicle, and the headlights shining toward the spokesperson; the color tone and style are similar, objectively making the posters highly alike.

The user added captions like “Should your brand pay for the creative idea? I can include the original concept,” along with hashtags such as “Support originality, oppose plagiarism and theft,” “Don’t PR me,” and “Li Yunrui.”

This sparked widespread discussion among netizens.

Who is right or wrong?

Wei Jianjun responded with a video stating: attentive netizens noticed the poster’s suspected plagiarism, and all the criticisms have been reviewed; after verification, it is confirmed that the poster was indeed plagiarized, with no room for defense; here, I apologize to Land Rover, to the original poster designer, and to the trusting netizens. Wei Jianjun and Great Wall Motors are willing to bear all legal and financial responsibilities. The responsibility mainly lies with me (Wei Jianjun) for not thoroughly reviewing the approval process. Moving forward, we will deeply reflect on management and procedures to strictly prevent plagiarism. Great Wall Motors has always upheld the spirit of originality, and in future work, we hope netizens and users will continue to supervise and point out any shortcomings, urging us to improve.

Coincidentally, at the beginning of 2025, when WeiPai’s Gao Shan MPV was unveiled, the promotional video used by the brand was also accused of being similar to an advertisement by Lexus.

(Below is a photo of the actual WeiPai V9X vehicle)

Product design has largely been independently original, and other creative ideas should also adhere to originality.

Domestic brands have moved past the stage of design copying; no aspect should be “copied again.”

Creating ideas for automotive products and marketing is very challenging because excellent ideas tend to resonate deeply with people. With thousands of mass-produced cars and hundreds of brands, almost all conceivable ideas have already been used. Therefore, producing outstanding creative concepts is difficult; many promotional materials from various brands show similarities. Recently, Nissan was also criticized for its promotional materials being excessively borrowed by a competitor, but there was no follow-up.

However, even if outstanding ideas are hard to come by, mutual reference and improvement are possible; but excessive copying inevitably involves plagiarism, which shows a lack of respect for originality. Such behavior should not occur.

This also applies to the exterior design of vehicles. Not only Land Rover has been heavily copied, but also well-known models from Porsche, Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, and others have been excessively referenced by some domestic brands; specific models include Porsche Panamera, Ferrari Purosangue, Mercedes S-Class, BMW 5 Series, Toyota Hilux, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Vogue, Lexus RX, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Bb, Toyota Supra, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota RAV4, Toyota Previa, Toyota Noah, Chevrolet Spark, etc.

The distorted products from former “copycat kings” like Landwind and Zotye are still vivid in memory. Some of the current well-known brands’ classic models also involved significant referencing, covering sedans, SUVs, MPVs, and even pickups.

In the early stages, copying mature models can be understandable, but in a phase where a brand claims to be mature or leading, such behavior should no longer occur.