Freelander

Who actually builds it

The working relationship is genuinely a fifty-fifty split rather than one company simply licensing a name to the other. JLR’s design team owns the styling and brand positioning, while Chery handles the engineering, manufacturing, and eventual sales, all built at the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu, the same factory that used to build the petrol Range Rover Evoque before its line was repurposed for Freelander production. JLR’s own chief executive has described the split plainly: JLR shapes what it looks like, but from engineering onward, it’s genuinely Chery’s car. Freelander was formally elevated from a dormant model name into its own standalone brand at the end of March 2026, with plans to launch as many as six models within five years, roughly one every six months if that pace holds.

The model line-up so far

The brand’s debut car, the Freelander 8, is a large three-row SUV that’s already attracted over 10,000 pre-orders in China within 48 hours of pre-sales opening. A second, smaller SUV, around 4.9 metres long with two rows of seats, has also been shown alongside it, though it hasn’t been named yet. Every model so far points toward a line-up built entirely around SUVs of different sizes, styled by JLR and engineered by Chery.

When it’s actually coming to the UK

Nothing from Freelander has launched in the UK yet. Chinese deliveries are expected in the second half of 2026, with the UK specifically targeted for the second half of 2027, following right-hand-drive prototype testing already underway in markets including Australia. Given the scale of investment behind it, both JLR’s design pedigree and Chery’s manufacturing muscle, plus a genuinely aggressive six-model rollout plan, Freelander looks like one of the more seriously resourced new entrants heading for the UK market, well worth keeping an eye on as 2027 approaches.