A Landwind X9 SUV, seen in the Fangzhuang area in Fengtai District in southern Beijing in February 2015. The good Landwind looked great in black with shiny gray alloys and a red interior. The bull bar was a factory option.
Landwind was an automotive brand majority owned by Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) and minority owned by Changan Automobile. Over the years the naming and ownership structure has changes many a times. See this article by my friend Rutger for more on Landwind’s history.
The Landwind X9 was a 3-door SUV based on the 3-door version of first generation Isuzu MU. Later on, Landwind added the 5-door X6, based on the 5-door Isuzu MU.
Landwind and Isuzu had a license agreement for the production in China, so the X9 isn’t some illegal copy. The Japanese Isuzu brand was very active in China in the 1990’s and 2000’s and licensed the MU design to a whole lot of Chinese car makers.
Characters: 江铃 · 陆风, Jiānglíng · Lùfēng, or Jiangling · Landwind.
In China, every car gets a full government approved factory designation. Until the late 2000s, these designations were carried in full on every vehicle. Today, full designations aren’t obligatory on passenger vehicle anymore, but they still are on commercial vehicles.
The Landwind X9 JX6424C was powered by a 2.4 liter ‘4G64S4M’ Mitsubishi petrol engine made in China by the Shenyang-Mitsubishi engine making joint venture, Output is 92 hp and 200 Nm. The motor was mated to a five-speed manual sending horses to all four wheels.
The Landwind brand became notorious when they copied the Land Rover Evoque in 2015. After some initial success sales went down quickly and the brand got into deep trouble, selling only one car; the Landwind Rongyao. But it seems the end is near, the company’s website is down and there hasn’t been any news for years. A sad end, as the X9 was a fine looking car with a good engine and proper Isuzu credentials. It should have had a better badge…