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1st LD: Land Rover in faulty gearbox scandal

Xinhua, March 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday that the world's renowned automaker Land Rover has adopted faulty gearboxes in its Evoque cars in China.

Owners of Evoque cars throughout China encountered malfunctions such as sudden stop while driving and faulty reverse gear, which re-happened soon after 4S stores changed the defective gearboxes with new ones for free, according to a consumer protection live TV show broadcast by CCTV on late Sunday, or the International Day for Protecting Consumers' Rights.

The maintenance men at different Land Rover 4S stores could not tell what exactly made gearboxes out of order. The car owners were once required to upgrade the relative software, which was apparently good for nothing.

The show exposed that Land Rover (China) denied the problems in gearbox and passed the buck to Chinese consumers, saying "they drove too fast".

However, CCTV's investigation result showed that Land Rover had found the problem long ago and issued confidential notices only to the company's engineers.

Land Rover so far has not announced any recall of Evoque cars in China, and on its website still highlighted the brand's professional spirit and high quality, but what if any serious accident occurs or malfunctions appear after the car's warranty expires, asked the show.

The average price of Evoque cars in China is over 100,000 U.S. dollars, but driving them has become "dangerous and horrible". Volkswagen launched recalls after its faulty gearbox scandal was exposed in 2013, according to the TV show.

Apart from the Land Rover scandal, the program also revealed consumer rights infringements including fraud at famous brands' 4S stores, fake gasoline, deceptive medical advertising, mobile swindle and personal information leaks through mobile devices and the Internet.

The TV show, broadcast for 25 consecutive years every March 15, has brought numerous scandals to light in recent years. Endi