Freelander 8 opens order books from NZ$85,000 equivalent

Around NZ$85,000 buys a 610kW, three-row, 800-volt SUV in China, and the badge on the bonnet says Freelander.

The Freelander 8 has opened pre-orders from 339,900 yuan for its five-seat version, rising to 449,900 yuan, about NZ$112,500, for a First Edition limited to 1,000 units. This is the Freelander name back in showrooms two decades after the Land Rover original, but wearing no Land Rover badge and built by Chery.

It is the first product from the standalone Freelander brand created by Chery and Jaguar Land Rover, which revealed the production car in April. The timing is pointed: JLR has stopped supplying its own China-built models to dealers there, and the factory that made them is being turned over to Freelander production.

The full range spans five variants: Large Five-Seater at 339,900 yuan (NZ$85,000), Pro at 349,900 yuan (NZ$87,500), Max at 379,900 yuan (NZ$95,000), Max+ at 429,900 yuan (NZ$107,500), and the First Edition at 449,900 yuan (NZ$112,500) against a guided price of 459,900 yuan (NZ$115,000).

Range-extender with serious hardware

The Freelander 8 is a range-extended EV rather than a pure electric. A 1.5-litre turbo four acts as a generator, paired with a 60.3kWh CATL Freevoy battery good for a CLTC-rated 310km on electricity alone. The platform runs at 800 volts with a 6C charging rate, allowing 20 to 80% in a claimed 12 minutes.

Dual motors produce a combined 610kW and 813Nm, enough for 0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds, with the two-speed rear motor alone rated at 250kW. For a 5118mm-long, three-row SUV on a 3040mm wheelbase, that is considerable.

The off-road credentials are not decoration either. There are three differential locks, an i-ATS all-terrain system co-developed with Huawei, rear-wheel steering with 10 degrees of movement for a crab-walk function, and 404mm discs with six-piston callipers stopping it in a claimed 35.7 metres.

Inside sits a 46.3-inch panoramic display with a 15.6-inch screen below it, one of the first applications of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8397 chip, and Huawei’s Qiankun ADS 5 driver assistance across the range. The second row gets zero-gravity seats with heating, ventilation, massage and leg rests, plus a fridge and a ceiling-mounted screen.

What it is like to drive

Our friend Elliot Richards at Everything Electric APAC has already driven one, and comes away largely convinced. He describes a commanding, Defender-like driving position, with CDC air suspension that reads the road ahead and rear-wheel steering that makes a five-metre SUV far easier to place than it should be. The cabin, he says, feels “very JLR”, down to details like the air vents and the retention of physical climate controls, and even third-row passengers get heated and cooled seats under a panoramic glass roof.

He rates the Huawei software and driver assistance suite as a genuine advantage over Western rivals. His main gripe is the boot, which is remarkably small for a vehicle this size and a real limitation with six aboard, and he is not entirely sold on range extenders as a long-term answer. His conclusion is that the pricing and the pace of Freelander’s model rollout could make it a runaway success.

Coming our way?

Freelander has said it will target China, the Middle East and Europe, with six models planned over five years, and the brand is confirmed for Australia with pricing still to come. Nothing official has been said about New Zealand, but with the vehicles locked in across the Tasman we strongly expect them to follow here.

If it does arrive, the name will do some heavy lifting. The Freelander badge sold in New Zealand for over a decade under Land Rover, and a boxy, three-row, 610kW range-extender aimed at the Li Auto L8 and Aito M7 in China would land in a very different part of the market than the compact soft-roader Kiwis remember.