The famous Freelander name, synonymous with two generations of British-built Land Rover 4x4s made between 1997 and 2015, is being revived by JLR’s Chinese partner Chery – with more than a little help from the Indian-owned British firm.
Chery has had a joint venture in China with JLR since 2012, building the Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport and various models of Jaguar. Now the Chinese-British joint venture will be reviving the Freelander name with a range of six models set to arrive before the end of the decade, and repositioning as what it calls a “British premium intelligent all-terrain brand”.
At the launch event in Chery’s home city of Wuhu, Freelander International CEO Lucia Mao introduced the new brand, describing Freelander’s mission as “reshaping British heritage through intelligent innovation, for boundless journeys on any terrain, in every moment”. The brand’s vision is said to “become a global, leading premium new energy brand”.
The first new Freelander model – coming to Middle East markets initially – is called the Freelander 8. It’s a 5.1-metre-long, plug-in hybrid SUV with clear Land Rover design cues – and that’s not surprising, since the design work has been done by the JLR design team, led by Briton Philip Simmons.
The bold, upright front end has hints of the current Defender and other Land Rover models, especially with the interlocking front headlights, which are set to be a family feature across the Freelander range. Similarly, the rear three-quarter view and triangular side window hint at the style of the original, three-door Land Rover Freelander, and are likely to feature on other cars too. Leaning even further into the roots of the brand, that triangular design feature is part of the new Freelander logo, too.
Who is Chery and what cars does it make?
Founded in 1997, Chery is a Chinese automotive giant that oversees several car and truck brands operating both domestically and around the world. In China the Chery group includes brands like Tiggo, Fulwin, QQ and Exeed, while international Chery brands include Omoda, Jaecoo and Lepas. It also sells cars under the Chery brand itself, similar to how the Volkswagen Group sells VW cars as well as those from sub-brands like Audi and Skoda.
Although relatively new to the UK and European markets, Chery has expanded quickly, especially with its Jaecoo and Omoda brands – to such an extent that the Jaecoo 7 was the best-selling car in the UK in March, with just over 10,000 examples of the SUV registered, about 870 ahead of the second-place Ford Puma.
While impressive for the UK market newcomer, globally, Chery operates on an entirely different scale. The group produced 2.8 million vehicles in 2025, up 7.8 per cent on the previous year. It was also China’s biggest vehicle exporter that year, with 1.3 million vehicles sold overseas.
Back to the Freelander 8, and there are clear Chinese influences on the design. It’s fussier in places and features more plastic trim than you might expect from a true Land Rover model – and that’s a trend repeated on the inside, too. As well as a sizeable central touchscreen, there’s a full-width digital screen between the base of the windscreen and top of the dashboard – similar to BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive system in the iX3 – housing information for both the driver and passenger.
While the design work has been done by Simmons and his team at JLR, the car has been engineered by Chery and will be built at its Chinese factory. Talking to The Independent, Freelander International CEO Lucia Mao said: “We will build it in three international versions: left-hand drive, right-hand drive and for the European market.” Although Mao wouldn’t be drawn on the likelihood of cars coming to the UK, it’s widely expected to reach its spiritual homeland, with UK dealers at the launch event expressing an interest in selling the car.
Chery is staying true to the Freelander’s 4x4 roots with what it describes as “the world’s first intelligent all-terrain system” – although Land Rover, with its automatic Terrain Response tech, might have something to say about that. The Freelander gets nine terrain modes, a virtual centre differential lock and rear electronic limited slip differential, plus dual chamber air suspension – all things that should appeal to off-road enthusiasts, or drivers simply drawn to more capable SUVs, whether they intend to make use of the hardware or not.
Other technologies will also play a role, with the Freelander 8 promising Level Two Plus ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and self-driving through a system called Advanced Valet Parking Driver.
Few other details of the Freelander 8 were available at its reveal, other than a Chery insider telling us that the plug-in hybrid system uses a 2l petrol engine and it was a range extender hybrid – part of Chery’s new energy powertrain lineup. A range extender (EREV) model uses the petrol engine as a generator to charge up a battery, which then drives the car’s motors.
Chery said over 1,000 test vehicles will be clocking up development mileage around the world, including in Northern Europe and Australia, which could become another right-hand drive market for Freelander.
As well as the Freelander 8, the new brand gave us an exclusive preview of another, slightly smaller (4.9-metre) Freelander model with very similar styling and likely to use the same technology underneath. And from a graphic flashed on screen during the presentation, the other four Freelander models are all expected to be SUVs of some sort.
Where Freelander models were once built at JLR’s Solihull and Halewood factories in the UK, the new cars will be built at the Chery JLR manufacturing base at Changshu in China. Chery says it has invested over $1.5 billion (£1.11 billion) in the plant, with $440 million of upgrades, including thousands of intelligent robots, to build the new car.
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