The Freelander is back (almost), but not how you remember it. Once a proudly British SUV that put the “leisure” in leisure activity, it’s now been revived in what some might call a Frankensteinian collaboration between JLR and its long-time Chinese partner Chery—a move bound to make purists reach for their barley water.
JLR, seeking “mutually beneficial prospects for the future,” handed the Freelander’s engineering over to Chery, who will build the new models in China, rolling them out globally before the decade’s end . The styling? Overseen by JLR’s design wizard Gerry McGovern, meaning it’ll look unmistakably like a Land Rover—except built at a vast plant in Changshu, sharing nuts, bolts, and vibes with the likes of Chery’s own Omoda and Jaecoo.
What are you getting? A “chunky but rakish” crossover designed to seduce buyers with coupe-like lines but enough rugged pretense to keep the ghost of the original Freelander from haunting the boardroom. Underneath, it rides on Chery’s T1X platform—already proven on various Chinese crossovers, with a variable wheelbase that’s as versatile as it is utterly anonymous for anyone seeking that Land Rover heritage kick.
But the truly divisive bit arrives under the hood, where a plug-in hybrid system is set to debut first, drawing on Chery’s “Super Hybrid System.” Imagine a 143 bhp 1.5-litre turbo petrol with three electric motors, wielding a dubious—but undeniably punchy—443 bhp all-in. Expect 0-62 mph in under five seconds, and possibly the sort of “tank turn” party tricks on offer from Chery’s other SUVs, because nothing says “authentic Land Rover” like pirouetting your hybrid in the car park.
Further muddying the waters for traditionalists, there will also be fully electric and range-extender (REx) versions—capitalizing on China’s surging love for REx powertrains. The REx, in case you missed the memo, is a hybrid setup where the petrol engine exists purely to feed juice to the battery, not your wheels. Chery’s tech is mature here (at least in its home market), fitting JLR’s push to regain ground in China after a bruising 2024.
Inside? Get ready for a digital revolution that will make old Freelander fans wish for their blocky, button-festooned dashboards. There’ll be big, slidey screens and—mercifully—some proper knobs and dials for crucial functions, a concession to those who think “volume slider” means “scream louder at your touchscreen”.
Perhaps the most galling point for some: the Freelander badge, synonymous with British built grit, is now an “independent” entity sold through Chery-run dealerships and not included under JLR’s luxurious ‘House of Brands’ umbrella. Effectively, it’s Freelander in name, Chery in hardware, and JLR in aspirations—an uneasy cocktail sure to have Land Rover loyalists checking their teeth for an aftertaste.
For everyone else, perhaps the only bitter pill is having to pay nearly double the price of a Chery EV for the Freelander’s British-designed—Chinese-built—cachet, all while waxing nostalgic about dials, diesel, and the days when “off-roader” didn’t mean downloadable infotainment updates.
Long story short: the new Freelander is here to attract a new, more global, and less sentimental crowd. But for those who wanted the spirit of Solihull, it might just taste a bit… synthetic.
