Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will finish manufacturing of Land Roverautos in China to make room for a brand new auto model known as Freelander, springing from its three way partnership with Chery.
And whereas Freelander will begin off as a China-exclusive model, it’s set to finally go world. That’ll see it vie for patrons’ consideration alongside Chery manufacturers comparable to Jaecoo, Omoda, iCar/iCaur, Exeed, Exlantix, Jetour and Lepas.
After JLR introduced the Freelander model final June, extra particulars have come to mild courtesy of a current earnings name in addition to reviews from Autocar and Automotive Information Europe.
JLR will finish manufacturing of its Jaguar XEL and XFL sedans and the E-Tempo SUV on the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu, China in September, earlier than manufacturing of the Vary Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport ends there in the direction of the tip of 2026.
The British automaker, whose dad or mum firm is India’s tata Motors, had beforehand introduced it might construct Freelander EVs alongside current Chery Jaguar Land Rover autos in Changshu.
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Freelander’s debut mannequin will reportedly enter manufacturing in China in late 2026 with plug-in hybrid (PHEV) energy, adopted by battery-electric (EV) and extended-range electrical car (EREV) variants.
The PHEV may characteristic the Tremendous Hybrid System utilized in autos just like the Omoda 9. Within the UK-spec mannequin, this combines a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with two electrical motors, a 34.5kWh battery, and a three-speed transmission for complete system outputs of 330kW and 700Nm.
The Omoda 9 is claimed to do the 0-100km/h dash in 4.9 seconds, whereas claimed electric-only vary is 150km on the WLTP cycle.
Freelander SUVs may additionally supply respectable off-road potential, judging by Chery’s efforts underneath the Jetour and iCar manufacturers, however be will doubtless be positioned as extra premium autos than, for instance, Chery-branded merchandise.
The primary Freelander SUV might be based mostly on Chery’s T1X platform, which underpins a raft of autos from the Chinese language automaker starting from the small Omoda 3 as much as the massive Chery Tiggo 9L (above).
However whereas beneath it’ll be pure Chery, the Freelander SUV’s exterior styling – which Autocar reviews will mix a mix of chunky off-road and sporty coupe SUV design cues – might be penned by JLR chief artistic officer Gerry McGovern, who helped design the unique Land Rover Freelander.
With a extra rakish silhouette than the previous Land Rover Freelander, the debut mannequin underneath the brand new model could stand out higher towards current Chery fashions just like the blocky Jaecoo J7 (pictured above) and JLR fashions just like the upcoming ‘child’ Defender Sport.
Different Freelander fashions will comply with, and JLR has beforehand stated they’ll be set other than not solely different Chery manufacturers but in addition JLR’s world ‘Home of Manufacturers’ portfolio, which at present includes the Vary Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar manufacturers.
Autocar reviews Freelander will launch within the UK earlier than the tip of the last decade, which nearly actually means right-hand drive manufacturing – and subsequently means an Australian launch is feasible.
The Chery Jaguar Land Rover three way partnership was established in 2012, however gross sales of its autos have slumped lately as competitors – notably from home manufacturers – has gotten harder in that market.
As with automakers like Audi, Mazda, Nissan and Volkswagen, JLR is utilizing a Chinese language companion to develop a car that it’ll promote underneath one among its personal established names.
Freelander autos can even be bought through Chery-run dealerships in China.
The unique Land Rover Freelander was supplied for 2 generations between 1997 and 2015, with greater than 300,000 items bought globally over the course of its life.
The Freelander was solely supplied in a three-door physique type in its first technology, which was changed in 2006, after which finally succeeded by the Vary Rover Evoque in 2011.
5-door variations have been successfully changed by the Discovery Sport in 2015.
