While Land Rover recently transitioned to a "House of Brands" setup that put their three nameplates on equal footing as distinct brands, one brand that had long been left for dead was Freelander. A game-changer when it came out in 1997, it faded into oblivion in 2016 when it was replaced by the Discovery Sport. Now Freelander is coming back, as an EV-only brand built in China with JLR's joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery.
JLR has been partnering with Chery since 2012, building Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport, and various Jaguar models locally since 2014. From 1994 to 2018, the Chinese government required a foreign automaker to partner 50/50 with a domestic automaker to produce a vehicle locally. The joint venture operates a factory in Changshu, a city near Shanghai. That business now forms a major part of JLR's Chinese market.
As JLR looks towards electric options, China is a prime market. While Europe and North America have turned a half-step back from EVs recently, China continues to see them as a major component of their mobilization plans. Chery has already developed an EV platform, and the intent is to develop a JLR product that utilizes that platform, and to build it in China. Initially, that product would only be for the Chinese market before eventually expanding to exports. (Whether or not it would be exported to North America or just to nearby markets is another discussion.)
However, as Land Rover has split into three brands that are all supposed to have significant individual identities, it's a challenge to fold a vehicle that is developed semi-independently in the joint venture program into those brands. That has led to a dig into the history books, and the revival of the Freelander brand as the perfect compromise between a traditional Land Rover nameplate and something that can be crafted into a new identity.
The Freelander brand will sit alongside both JLR's and Chery's Chinese networks, but it will not be fully a part of either. The name will be licensed from JLR to Chery Jaguar Land Rover (CJLR), the Chinese joint venture, and the vehicles will be sold in a separate sales channel from either JLR products or Chery products. There are almost no details on what the new Freelander will be, but the press release has made it subtly clear that it will not be in the same caliber of "modern luxury" as the rest of the "House of Brands" -- in fact, at one point, it's described as "mainstream."
It's an interesting turn for Freelander. When it debuted in 1997 as the first unibody Land Rover built a bit more for everyday life, it quickly became the most popular SUV in Europe (overtaking the Discovery). It came to America in 2002 to great fanfare, with all the potential in the world as the compact SUV market was heating up. The issues showed up quickly -- though the Freelander came with some incredibly durable engine and transmission options globally, the North American version came with a V6 engine and automatic transmission that both had fatal flaws. Quickly, the nameplate became a bit of a liability in the USA, and the second generation (a very durable vehicle developed with elements from then-sister company Volvo) was rebranded as the LR2. The third generation vehicle became the Discovery Sport, expanding the Discovery brand into two models. Now it lives again it seems, pulled from the history books to a new future as an EV.
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