Land Rover and Chery's Big Freelander 8 Crossover: Interior and Details

The Chery Jaguar Land Rover (CJLR) joint venture is preparing for the premiere of the first model from the Freelander sub-brand — a large three-row plug-in hybrid crossover called the Freelander 8. Today, its interior design was revealed, and some technical details have emerged from the dossier of the upcoming newcomer 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 back in March, and now the production car is almost ready — the Freelander 8 will hit the Chinese market before the end of this year.

It is worth recalling that in the past, the Freelander name was borne by a purely British compact crossover, produced in two generations between 1997 and 2015. Now, Freelander is a sub-brand for China, under which CJLR will bring at least six new NEV-segment models (electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids) to market between 2026 and 2030. All these models will be built on Chery platforms, with Land Rover contributing only to the design. In China, Freelander vehicles will be sold through their own dealer network. In time, the Chinese Freelanders will be exported, including to Europe.

At the heart of the Freelander 8 lies a modular platform with an 800-volt electrical architecture (most likely a variant of Chery's E0X platform), all-wheel steering, 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 5,118 to 5,185 mm depending on specification, with a width of 2,050 mm, a height of 1,898 mm, and a wheelbase of 3,040 mm. Standard wheels are 21-inch items.

The Freelander 8 will be equipped with a series-type plug-in hybrid powertrain, where a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing 156 bhp is not mechanically linked to the wheels, operating instead as a generator to charge the CATL traction battery with a capacity of 60.33 kWh. No information is yet available on the traction electric motors. The top speed is 220 km/h. The kerb weight is 2,980 kg. The permissible braked trailer weight is 2,000 kg.

The interior of the production Freelander 8 is virtually identical to that of the Freelander Concept 97. The upper section of the dashboard is dominated by a 46.3-inch instrument display with 8K resolution, stretching across nearly the full width of the cabin. The central multimedia screen is 15.6 inches, with a row of physical buttons finished in metal beneath it. The specification includes a 896-channel lidar mounted above the windscreen and a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8397 processor — both essential for the advanced 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 also have to contend with the highly ambitious Xiaomi SkyNomad N90, which is also set to go on sale before the end of this year.