The Chery Jaguar Land Rover (CJLR) joint venture is preparing for the premiere of the first model under the Freelander sub-brand — the large three-row plug-in hybrid crossover, the Freelander 8. Its interior design was revealed today, and some technical details have emerged from the dossier of the upcoming new model in the electronic database of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The precursor to the Freelander 8 was the Freelander Concept 97, unveiled in March, and now the production vehicle is nearly ready — the Freelander 8 will hit the Chinese market before the end of this year.
Recall that in the past, the name Freelander was borne by a purely British compact crossover, produced in two generations from 1997 to 2015. Now, Freelander is a sub-brand for China, under which CJLR will launch at least six new NEV segment models (electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids) from 2026 to 2030. All these models will be built on Chery platforms, with Land Rover only contributing to the design. In China, Freelander vehicles will be sold through their own dealer network. Over time, Chinese Freelanders will be exported, including to Europe.
The Freelander 8 is based on a modular platform with an 800-volt electrical architecture (likely a variant of Chery's E0X platform), a fully steerable chassis, and a fully independent adaptive air suspension: double wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear. The overall length of the Freelander 8 ranges from 5118 to 5185 mm depending on the configuration, with a width of 2050 mm, a height of 1898 mm, and a wheelbase of 3040 mm. Standard wheels are 21 inches.
The Freelander 8 will be equipped with a series plug-in hybrid powertrain, where a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine producing 156 hp is not mechanically connected to the wheels, operates as a generator, and charges the CATL traction battery with a capacity of 60.33 kWh. Information about the traction electric motors is not yet available. The top speed is 220 km/h. The curb weight is 2980 kg. The permissible towing weight is 2000 kg.
The interior of the production Freelander 8 is nearly identical to that of the Freelander Concept 97. The upper part of the front panel is occupied by a 46.3-inch instrument display with 8K resolution, stretching almost the entire width of the cabin. The central multimedia screen is 15.6 inches, with a row of physical keys featuring metal trim placed below it. The equipment list includes a 896-channel lidar above the windshield and a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8397 processor — these are necessary for the advanced electronic driver assistance systems, which will be supplied by Huawei.
How much the Freelander 8 will cost is not yet known, but prices are expected to be competitive — the Chinese market is currently flooded with large and expensive NEV segment crossovers. The Sino-British newcomer will have to contend, among others, with the highly ambitious Xiaomi SkyNomad N90, which will also go on sale before the end of this year.
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