The new, retro-inspired Freelander 8 is Jaguar Land Rover’s latest global entry into the West’s red-hot luxury SUV market, and the off-roader is off to a strong start with over 10,000 orders flooding in in just 48 hours.
First shown back in March, the new 8 is the first fruit of the new Chery-JLR Freelander brand in China. Make no mistake, however, the brand has global ambitionsion – and hopes its retro-tastic styling and concept-car proportions will undoubtedly play well against its Teutonic competition in Western markets. To be competitive in China, though, where less is still less and more is still more, the Freelander 8 brought a little extra to the party in the form of an ultra-luxe interior with a massive touchscreen, eye-grabbing “Zero gravity” reclining captain’s chairs in the second row with heated, ventilated, and massaging heating surfaces, airplane tables, a refrigerator, and adjustable LED mood lighting.
That approach is paying off, with more than 10,000 customers lining up to pay more than $50,000 (the starting price is 339,900 yuan) for the privilege of finding out for themselves how nice it really is inside the new 8.
Freelander didn’t provide any real details beyond the order numbers, but it’s worth noting that many Chinese brands post pre-order figures based on refundable deposits, and it remains to be seen how many of those 10,000 orders will eventually become deliveries.
The Freelander 8, itself
All Freelander 8s ship standard with Huawei’s Qiankun ADS 5 ADAS powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8397 chip, which processes information from radar, LiDAR, and visual cameras to help keep the big SUV centered in the lane.
JLR’s new Freelander 8 is powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder range extending ICE engine that, combined with the SUV’s 60.3 kWh battery, sends power to a pair of electric motors that send 610 kW (~815 hp to both axles – enough juice to goose the boxy truck to 60 mph from a standstill in less than 4.5 seconds.
No word yet on what the Freelander’s next market might be, but don’t bet against Canada or mainland Europe.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Chery-JLR, via CNEVPost.
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