Jaguar Land Rover to use Chery EV platform for new Freelander

It’s been over a decade since Chery and Jaguar Land Rover forged their joint venture for the Chinese market.

Together, the partnership enabled Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to be made in China such as the Discovery Sport and E-Pace, with Chery benefitting from the technical expertise and R&D sharing of the British brand that resulted in products like the Jetour T2.

Now, the two have further strengthened their partnership as Jaguar Land Rover moves into its next era of electrification. JLR and Chery have signed a new licensing agreement where the former will use Chery’s EV architecture to resurrect the Freelander brand in the PRC.

Similar to the Range Rover, Discovery, and Defender, the Freelander will form part of JLR’s “House of Brands” under its reborn form under the Chery Jaguar Land Rover (CJLR) joint venture.

The Freelander name used to be a model under the Land Rover brand, which was produced between 1997 to 2015. Since then, it was succeeded by the Discovery Sport. But with its rebirth, CJLR says the Freelander brand will offer a range of mainstream electric vehicles that will initially be made available for the world’s biggest EV market.

For now, details of the Chery EV platform that will be used by the Freelander are yet to be revealed, but rumors say it will be similar to Chery's Exeed brand. As for its production, CJLR says it will be built at their existing manufacturing facility in Changshu.