Freelander 8 Debuts in China With Chery Tech

The Freelander 8 has stepped out in China, and I am slightly annoyed to admit I rather want to poke it with a stick and see what falls off. Freelander was a favourite when JLR still treated small-ish Land Rovers like proper little posh mud-pluggers, not merely shopping trolleys in leaking waders.

Now the badge is back, not as a Land Rover, but as a reborn Freelander brand cooked up by Chery and Jaguar Land Rover. The cars will come from the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu, with Chery providing the Chinese tech muscle and JLR bringing design experience, heritage, and hopefully a firm hand on the taste dial. Who knows, we might even have a JLR product that doesn’t self destruct after warranty? That’d be lovely for what is one of the most iconic brands known to man.

Phil Simmons is the man holding the pencil, and his previous work includes the Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Defender, so at least the Freelander 8 has someone in the room who knows the difference between rugged and merely wearing black plastic cladding as a dare. Recent Chery products have had a stellar rise in quality, so this could be the shot in the arm the JLR brand needs. The Chery JLR partnership has laid in the dust since its 2012 formation but what a way to come out of the closet.

The shape is boxy, upright, and unashamedly old-school in outline. The Freelander rear quarter window is doing a little heritage shimmy for those of us who fondly remember a spot of light bush-bashing in the original Freelander. It was not perfect, oh mercy me no. Early ones had the reliability record of a hungover Basil Fawlty carrying soup across a trampoline, but owners loved them anyway. They had charm, size, usefulness, and loved posh mud on their brogues. It was never a serious off-roader like the Rangie and Landie, now they are carriages that really bring back the halcyon days of JLR. The XJ40 was the undoing on that company mark my words, but Land Rover and Range Rover kept Jaguar on life support far past its best-by.

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ABOVE: Freelander 8 studio images and its global reveal in China

The new Freelander 8 looks much more serious. The studio images show a big, squared-off SUV with a black roof, Tonka-toy wheel arch cladding, flush handles, and a front end that spells FREELANDER across its nose in a nod to the generous badging of the past. It feels part Defender memory, part Chinese chaise lounge, and part airport security robot. J’adore.

Chery gets the tech money

Inside, the Freelander 8 moves away from old Land Rover bromance and delves headfirst into murky waters of modern screen life. A large Mini LED display does the show-off work by folding navigation, driving data, and road information into one big digital slab. Whether that becomes genuinely useful or just another glowing altar to finger smears will depend on the software, and we have all suffered enough laggy car screens to run screaming from the room.

Freelander says the 8 will run an Intelligent All-Terrain System, called i-ATS, with nine terrain modes. It is meant to sense changing surfaces and adjust the car without the driver stabbing blindly like a lost hiker in loafers. Hardware includes an electronic limited-slip differential, air suspension, and a virtual centre locking function, so this is not merely an SUV with an adventure font and some moody lighting. Could this be a Disco-chaser too? Is this a sign of things to come? Is this why JLR were so nonplussed about their gigastrophic Jaguar (in strange font) relaunch fail?

Australian buyers will notice that hardware, even if the most demanding off-road work for many luxury SUVs is a gritted ski-field access road. It is aspirational competence, darling. You may never cross the Simpson, but you want the car to look as though it could, should brunch take a Friday arvo turn.

What JLR gets from the deal is reach, relevance, and a second chance for a name many people still remember fondly. What Chery gets is British polish, a familiar badge, and access to people who would never have admitted to wanting a Chinese SUV until someone dusted it with Land Rover sprinkles and Range Rover hard icing.

Australia has not been given timing yet. Further details will come closer to production, including local launch plans, pricing, powertrains, and whether the Freelander 8 lands as petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, or an as yet unmentionable alchemy of new wonders.

The badge has baggage, the kind you’d take to the Cataract after a few nights on the Sudan. I’m thinking billowing sails on the Nile, white linen suits, sipping an Agatha Christie on the verandah, and a personal attendant called Abdul. He can mix a fab drink while getting a mean deal on a camel, now that’s properly agile.

Freelander under JLR was a favourite because it felt like a less intimidating step into the bewildering Land Rover world. If the new one keeps that deliciously free spirit and avoids turning into a full digital pastiche, it could be one of the more interesting premium SUVs heading our way. China is hoovering up history but unlike the Ford, GM, and Chrysler disasters of the 80s, is doing it backed by vertical integration, and money, lots and lots of money.

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