Jaguar Land Rover to revive Freelander as EV in China

Amid the burgeoning Chinese luxury electric vehicle market, Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is planning to revive its Freelander model in an electric avatar in China.

The British luxury carmaker has entered into a licensing agreement with its Chinese joint venture with Cherry Automobile to manufacture electric models under the Freelander name.

Freelander was a Land Rover model, produced from 1997 to 2015. It was discontinued and replaced with the Discovery Sport in 2016. “Under the proposed new licensing agreement, the CJLR Joint Venture will pivot to produce an advanced portfolio of electric vehicles based on Chery’s EV architecture, exclusively under the Freelander name,” JLR said.

The new Freeland portfolio will offer a range of “mainstream” electric vehicles. Initially, the electric vehicles will be sold in China and later exported to global markets.

The new collaboration for Freelander will leverage Chery’s leading automotive market position in China and JLR’s heritage and design strength. CJLR is the 50/50 joint venture of Jaguar Land Rover in China with Chery Automobile. The new Freelander will be manufactured at CJLR’s existing facility in Changshu.

The licensing of the Freelander model represents complementary growth, independent from JLR’s modern luxury House of Brands and Cherry’s existing portfolio.

JLR has three architectures - Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) for ICE, PHEV and BEVs, and  Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA) and Jaguar Electrified Architecture (JEA) solely for BEVs.

“We believe that working together to develop new models of collaboration for the world’s largest and fastest-growing electric vehicle market, combined with the appeal of the Freelander brand, promises a very exciting future for CJLR,” JLR CEO Adrian Mardell said.

Freelander is expected to boost JLR’s presence in China's electric vehicle market, which is witnessing rapid electric vehicle penetration in the premium market.
The company, in an investor presentation, noted that it has experienced steady growth in China over the past six years and FY24 marked a historical high for the import business.