36,000 Range Rover Evoques recalled in China to fix faulty gearbox

Jaguar Land Rover is recalling 36,451 Range Rover Evoque models from 2014 and 2015 to fix a faulty gearbox after criticism from China’s State TV.

Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to recall 36,451 Range Rover Evoques in China after criticism from China’s State television over their failure to address gearbox issues.

JLR came in for a bashing from China’s equivalent of Anne Robinson – as did Mercedes, VW and Nissan – on TV last Sunday, and took to the web to issue an apology to buyers of the Evoque in China.

It seems JLR had been ignoring complaints about the gearbox on its 2014 and 2015 Evoque (which we assume is the China built version of the Evoque, or issues with the new 9-speed Evoque gearbox) which suffered from poor gear shift quality, noise and, under some circumstances, a failure to engage drive. Which is hardly a minor complaint.

As a result of the State TV giving them a roasting, JLR has recalled all the affected cars to fix them and are extending the warranty on the gearbox to 240k km or seven years for those owners who are affected by the problems.

It’s a rare wrong-footing for JLR, who should have addressed the complaints properly in the first place and saved been embarrassed by the Chinese State TV.

Still, Mercedes, Nissan and VW also had to apologise after the programme outed them for overcharging in their service outlets, so it wasn’t just JLR put on the naughty step.