JLR responds to transmission failure report

Premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Monday that it already provides a solution for the reported transmission failures in one of its models that China imported.

Due to transmission faults, the imported Range Rover Evoque SUV model may suddenly lose power while it is being driven or encounter reverse gear failures, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported during its annual gala report for World Consumer Rights Day on Sunday.

Transmission failures with imported Evoques have been reported by consumers in places such as Beijing, East China's Zhejiang Province and North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the report said.

To deal with the problem, JLR China had offered to update the transmission software in its 2014 and 2015 versions of the imported Evoque starting from January 19, the company said in a statement on its Sina Weibo account on Monday.

But citing an Evoque owner in Beijing who had received the transmission software update, the CCTV report said that software updates could not solve the problems. The car owner eventually chose to replace the transmission, the report said.

The Evoque SUV is one of JLR's bestselling models. The company just started local production of the Evoque in October 2014 and the locally produced Evoque officially hit the market in February.

JLR China said that domestically produced Evoques are equipped with transmissions with the latest software, so those do not have the faults reported by CCTV.

The Evoque's 9-speed automatic transmission is made by Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen AG - a leading auto parts supplier whose products are used by many automakers such as Honda and Chrysler.

"The 9-speed automatic transmission represents advanced technology in the industry, but it may not be stable enough yet," Wu Shuocheng, an industry analyst at Menutor Consulting Shanghai Co, told the Global Times on Monday.

The country's quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, did not comment on the matter on Monday.

"It [the CCTV report] may affect JLR's sales in a short term, but the impact of the report is expected to fade soon," Zhu Bin, an analyst at consultancy LMC Automotive in Shanghai, told the Global Times Monday. He said that previous cases have shown that CCTV reports do not have long-lasting effects on the sales of automakers.

In the annual World Consumer Rights Day gala in 2013, the CCTV reported that the direct shift gearbox (DSG) technology used by German carmaker Volkswagen could cause a sudden loss or increase in power during driving.

The report and consumers' complaints eventually led to a recall of over 380,000 Volkswagen cars in 2013. But analysts noted that the report did not dampen Volkswagen's sales too much as consumers could choose to buy Volkswagen cars without the DSG technology.

However, Wu believes that consumers will be more "cautious" about choosing JLR cars after the CCTV report, which may have a noticeable impact on JLR's sales.

"Unlike the case with Volkswagen, JLR does not have many other options for consumers," he said.

In 2014, JLR sold over 122,000 units of cars in China, up 28 percent year-on-year. JLR is the fourth-largest premium brand in China after Germany's Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Responses from companies named in show

The annual CCTV gala report on Consumer Rights Day on Sunday exposed quality problems in several sectors. Here are some responses from companies named by CCTV.

Banking

The CCTV report said that people have been opening accounts at major banks using fake ID cards bought from illegal online dealers. Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China and China Construction Bank were named by the report.

ABC said on Monday that it will investigate the matter and ICBC said on Monday that it will also make necessary rectifications.

Telecom

Leading telecom carrier China Mobile was alleged by the CCTV report to be allowing mass spam calls made from machines. A branch of China Unicom in Central China's Hunan Province allows people to register new phone numbers without any ID information, which is against regulations.

China Mobile said on Monday that it will crack down on such irregularities. China Unicom said that it has launched an investigation on its Hunan branch.

Auto dealers

The CCTV report said that some auto dealers, including those of Dongfeng Nissan, Shanghai Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, have exaggerated or even made up mechanical problems with vehicles in order to overcharge their owners.

The three companies said on Monday that they have launched investigations and will make corrections.