Jaguar Land Rover has plans to bring back the Freelander badge with plans to be used on an electric SUV to be sold in China, which will mean it is going to compete with BYD in its own market. JLR has plans to improve its “House of Brands”, including Range Rover, Defender, Discover, and Jaguar. As the car industry migrates to electric cars, it has put Jaguar in the position in which it has to cancel the F-Type, XF and XE as it looks to produce an EV GT car. JLR will be working with Chery Automotive, a company which owns Omoda and Jaecoo - two brands which have just entered the UK market.
JLR will be licensing the Freelander name in China to Chery and it'll be a brand that sits on its own, independent from JLR and Chery. The new Freelander models will be made in Changshu and for now, only sold in China. However, in time it could be exported to other markets.
Newcomers from China, such as BYD have quickly overtaken western brands in terms of battery technology and pace of progress. For example, BYD has its own luxury brand, Yangwang which exclusively makes plug-in-hybrids and pure EVs. The new Yangwang U8 started production in December 2023 and is priced from around £117,000 ($150,000).
