This Chinese Defender clone undercuts Land Rover’s seven-seat 110 by more than £20k

As evidenced by the number of Jaecoo 7s on the road right now, UK buyers clearly aren’t put off by the ‘Temu Range Rover’ tag. And now it looks like BYD wants a slice of Land Rover’s homemade, artisanal steak and kidney pie, because it has just announced pricing and full details for its new Ti 7 SUV.

There’s no getting away from the fact that it looks a lot like a Defender, with BYD boasting in its press release that “an unapologetically boxy profile delivers the imposing, chunky design that finds favour among SUV buyers, yet delivers a contemporary look”.

It’s certainly not priced like the Land Rover, that’s for sure, with the single Excellence AWD specification providing seven seats as standard and kicking off at £47,995. That gets you a panoramic roof, LEDs all round and 20in wheels, plus a 15.6in touchscreen, heated and ventilated leather seats, dual wireless smartphone chargers and even an in-car fridge.

A seven-seat Defender 110 starts at £68,465 before any option boxes have been ticked. Yikes.

Oh, and BYD’s offering comes complete with a plug-in hybrid powertrain that pairs a 1.5-litre turbo four-pot with a chunky 35.6kWh battery and two electric motors for 402bhp, 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds and 74 miles of all-electric range. If you want a plug-in hybrid Defender, you’re limited to the six-seat layout with just two rows and a tiny jump seat up front.

The Ti 7 also promises an 18-speaker sound system and 1,830 litres of boot space with both back rows folded away. Deliveries will apparently kick off in January 2027, after which – if the Jaecoo craze is anything to go by – you’ll start seeing 18 of them on the school run each morning.