Land Rover Badge, Chery Bones, Huawei Brain, Freelander 8 Opens Pre-Sales From $52,000

Freelander held its global debut event on the evening of August 14 and opened pre-sales for its first model, the Freelander 8. The six-seat version comes in Pro, Max and Max+ trims priced from 349,900 to 429,900 yuan (about $52,000 to $64,000), a five-seat version starts at 339,900 yuan, and a launch edition limited to 1,000 units lists at 459,900 yuan.

The Freelander name dates to 1997 as a Land Rover model line, but the Chery-JLR joint venture promoted it to a standalone NEV brand this March, the first fruit of what both sides call joint venture 3.0. The Changshu plant built its last combustion Range Rover Evoque in March and rolled the Freelander 8 off the same line on July 30, backed by an additional 3 billion yuan investment. The SUV is 201.5 inches long on a 119.7-inch wheelbase with a 2+2+2 cabin.

The Land Rover's local color comes from Chinese tech. Huawei's Qiankun ADS 5 is standard, with the Max+ and launch editions getting an advanced package built around an 896-line lidar that Max buyers can add for about $2,970. The cabin debuts Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8397 chip and runs a 46.3-inch 8K pillar-to-pillar display plus a 15.6-inch center screen, with interface graphics built on Unreal Engine 5.6.

Power and chassis split the difference between both parents, combining an 800V range-extended architecture, a 1.5-liter generator and dual motors for 818 hp and 0 to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds, with a 60.3 kWh CATL battery good for 193 miles of CLTC electric range and over 621 miles combined.

The i-ATS all-terrain system was co-developed with Huawei and ZF, backed by dual-chamber air suspension, rear-wheel steering, three differential locks and 35.4 inches of wading depth.

The Freelander 8 lands squarely against the Li Auto L8, Aito M8 and Tank 700, with a Middle East version due around year-end and a six-model, five-year plan covering more than 180 markets. Whether a Land Rover badge wrapped around Chinese hardware can actually sell is the open question, given JLR's years of sliding China sales and a nameplate whose old fans remember a compact gas SUV that shares nothing with this six-seat EREV but the badge.

Britain supplies the name, China supplies the technology and Huawei supplies the brain, which is the true character of this car.