Land Rover’s China-Market ‘Freelander’ Is The Rivian R2 You Can’t Have
- Freelander is a joint venture brand between Jaguar Land Rover and China’s Chery Automobile.
- The Freelander Concept 97 is named to commemorate when the original Land Rover of the same name was released: 1997.
- This concept uses an 800-volt architecture, but battery, range, and power specs haven’t been released.
Even in an era of smooth, streamlined crossovers, the market for boxy vehicles with a rough-and-tumble attitude remains strong. Just look at some of the models that have made the biggest splashes on the car market in recent memory, like the Ford Bronco. In the EV world, the REI-coded Rivian R2 is a natural foil to the fastback Tesla Model Y.
Land Rover, one of the OG purveyors of rugged SUVs, just unveiled its own entry into the boxy EV space. This week it unveiled a spin-off brand called Freelander, a nod to Land Rover’s entry-level crossover from the 2000s. This SUV promises to be a little less ostentatious than your typical Land Rover or Range Rover, while not cutting out the off-road prowess or premium quality we’ve expected from the brand. Oh, and the sourcing comes from a surprising place: China.
Photo by: Freelander
The Freelander brand is a joint venture between Land Rover and China’s Chery. This isn’t uncharted waters between the two entities, since Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Chery are already a joint venture that has been producing Jaguar, Land Rover, and Range Rover primarily for the Chinese since 2012. However, this is the first time the two have collaborated on anything in depth beyond manufacturing or small market changes on existing JLR products for China.
Officially, first model the brand revealed is called the Concept 97, which is an homage to the year the original Freelander was released: 1997. From what we can see, it marries a Land Rover Defender-style front fascia (sans any grille insert) with silver accents. In profile, the Concept 97 reminds me of the Rivian R2, although its suicide doors definitely set the two cars apart. Its rear window treatment is reminiscent of the old first-generation Land Rover Freelander. Although at about 200 inches in length, this concept is a lot larger than the Honda CR-V-sized Freelander of old.
Inside, the Freelander Concept 97 still looks more like a concept than a production car. There are four seats: two up front, two in the middle that fold flat, and a wrap-around rear third row bench that probably won’t make it to production.
This SUV’s production version will use an 800-volt modular architecture developed by Chery. This flexible platform can handle PHEV, EV, and EREV models, but it’s not yet confirmed what battery size our output Freelander cars will have when they’re on sale. We do know that there’s definitely going to be an EV in the mix.
Speaking of sales, the Freelander may lead with the Chinese market for initial sales, but JLR and Chery are adamant that the brand will take the world by storm. In an interview with Autocar, Freelander CEO Wei Lan said the brand was developed with global markets in mind. Europe is definitely on the list, but tariffs will likely keep this chunky EV out of the U.S. market for the time being.
The Freelander brand and the Concept 97 will be on display at this year’s Beijing auto show.
Contact the author: Kevin.Williams@InsideEVs.com
