2025 Land Rover Freelander inches closer to production, but new documents suggest it won't be the off-road small SUV it once was: Report

According to reports out of China, Land Rover’s re-booted Freelander brand, which is now a joint-venture with Chery, will debut with a seven-seat SUV which is over five meters long.

This new Chery/Land-Rover mash up will be a far cry from the compact original Freelander, which launched in 1997 and its larger second-generation replacement that launched in 2006.

It will be based on a new joint-venture platform dubbed E0X and draw features and power sources from Chery’s premium Exceed brand, including battery electric and range extender hybrid options.

New ‘bidding’ documents in China confirm the Freelander will effectively be a version of a three-row SUV originally slated to be a flagship model in Exceed’s Chinese domestic line-up.

Run through a translator, the image published by Chinese media outlets is a procurement document for the “2024 Chery Land Rover E0V project.”

A model, teased at a Chery media conference earlier this year, was dubbed the ‘E0V’ with a 5100mm length, to sit atop its ‘Star Era’ range and has only been seen as a silhouette in presentation slides. Chinese media have speculated the project has been completely handed over to the Freelander reboot or there will be a Land Rover version of the same vehicle.

We can expect Land Rover to ultimately take a new path with the car’s design language to distinguish it from the Exceed Star Era products, it will mark the first JLR model to be developed using Chinese technology and platforms.

JLR said previously the new Freelander range will initially be a China-only offering, but in the future it will be exported globally, so there’s a chance Australia will see this three-row model.

Chery Jaguar Land Rover, or CJLR for short, already assembles Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles for the Chinese domestic market.

Like other European brands operating in China, particularly Volvo and BMW, Land Rover no doubt sees the benefit of the cost-effective development of export models from its Chery joint-venture, following in the footsteps of cars like the Volvo EX30 which shares its platform and tech with the China-developed Zeekr X from Geely.

In fact, this benefit might be a necessity as Land Rover struggles with competitiveness in many markets around the world. A march upmarket for its Range Rover marque has seen volumes drop, while the Jaguar passenger car brand has been pulled from shelves entirely pending a range-wide reboot for the electric era.

If you’re losing track of Chery’s many sub-brands, we don’t blame you.

Currently, Chery’s Exceed brand is not earmarked for Australia. Exceed models are sold overseas in Russia, the Middle East, and South America, Australia will instead receive the semi-premium Jaecoo brand from Chery in 2025.

Recent news out of Land Rover has its next-generation Velar mid-sizer swapping to a fully electric powertrain on the also-new EMA platform with prototypes recently spotted testing in the wild.

The brand also said it would push back plans to launch six new electric vehicles by 2026 in favour of hybrid tech in the short term.

Land Rover sales are down for 2024 albeit only a few percentage from a low base. The updated Discovery Sport (incidentally, the Freelander’s replacement) and Evoque continue to track decently for the brand, as does the new-generation flagship Range Rover and well-received Defender in their niche segments. Important products like the new Range Rover Sport is treading water, while the unloved Velar is down significantly for the year.

Expect a year of announcements for Land Rover and its Jaguar sister brand in 2025 as it continues to refresh and electrify its range.