Mahindra Automotive North America and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which later became Stellantis, fought in court for years over the design of Mahindra’s Roxor off-road car. The case was finally settled in a Michigan court. In 2018, Fiat Chrysler said that the Razor’s design was too close to the “iconic Jeep design,” but a change made in 2020 made the front end of the Roxor more unique. The Roxor, recently permitted to be sold by a court, is also not legal to drive on roads in the United States because it is meant to be used on farms and for other non-road uses. When Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra first brought its Roxor off-roader to the U.S. market in 2018, they planned to sell it as a replacement for side-by-sides and other work vehicles that couldn’t be driven on the street. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sued the Roxor because it looked old and was based on the first Willys Jeep. Automotive News says that Mahindra Automotive North America has finally won the case in the Eastern District Court of Michigan. This means that the company can keep selling truck models after 2020. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which will merge with PSA Group in 2021, said that the Roxor was “a nearly identical copy of the iconic Jeep design” and made a legal complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2018. FCA wasn’t happy with the “boxy body shape with flat-looking vertical sides and a rear body that ends at about the same height as the hood.” It also said that Mahindra was trying to “penetrate the U.S. market and hurt FCA’s reputation and business,” which Mahindra denied. Mahindra responded by asking a Michigan court to throw out FCA’s complaint. It said that the two companies had agreed in 2009 that Mahindra could advertise the Roxor with a grille design that was different enough from the usual seven-slot Jeep grille. Mahindra also said that the Roxor was never meant to compete with the Jeep Wrangler because it was always meant to be an off-road vehicle and that Fiat Chrysler was using the lawsuit to hurt the company’s image. Even though it didn’t steal any Fiat Chrysler rights, the Roxor was found to have stolen Fiat Chrysler’s trade dress in June 2020. Trade dress is how a product looks that tells customers where it came from. The International Trade Commission said that the sale and purchase of Roxor parts should stop. Mahindra said that the 2018 and 2019 models, more like Jeeps, were no longer available and that the 2020 Razor’s new oval grille made it a very different off-roader. Later that year, the ITC agreed with Mahindra’s claims and said that the 2020 Roxor did not steal Jeep’s trade dress. So, Mahindra had to register a new, non-infringing trademark different enough from the infringing brand to meet the “safe distance rule,” which would let buyers know that the two products were not connected. But on July 19, a court in Michigan turned down FCA/Stellantis’s request. This means that Mahendra can keep making and selling the Roxor after 2020. The Roxor has a 2.5-liter diesel engine with 62 horsepower and 144 pound-feet of torque. It has a five-speed manual gearbox. The Roxor is about 20 inches shorter than a brand-new two-door Wrangler. It is 148 inches long. Mahindra says it can pull up to 3490 pounds and go as fast as 55 miles per hour. Before taxes and fees, the price starts at $20,599.
