Talking of which, when Chery Auto announced that its China-built Freelander 8 would start from £37,000 there this month, it took 10,000 pre-orders in 48 hours. So, the inevitable question: is it a Land Rover or is it a Chery?
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The JLR CEO, PB Balaji, reckons his company owns the design, but admits “in terms of engineering, manufacturing and selling it, it’s Chery’s car. It is completely their baby”. Freelander 8 is likely to go on sale in Britain next year, but Land Rover badges will not appear on its bodywork and it won’t be sold via the official Land Rover dealer network. Inevitably, its retail price here will be higher than in its native China.
However, the aim is for this to be not just a large car (almost 5.2m long), but also one that will sell here in large numbers. If it’s to do that, it has to be aggressively priced. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll be in the same sort of £45,000-£58,000 (ouch) bracket as the Range Rover Evoque.
It will also be fascinating to see what Chery gets up to when it opens its R&D centre at Millbrook, Bedfordshire, this autumn. It’s part of what the firm calls a “long-term growth plan for the UK”. It will likely start building Cherys with ‘Made in Britain’ badges when it takes over one of Nissan’s two production lines in Sunderland.
If JLR wants little to do with Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Co Ltd (CJLR), maybe it’s time the powers that be take a leaf out of its parent company’s playbook, and start building the Freelander in Sunderland? That’d show ‘em what they’re missing.
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