Tag Archives: Chery

News

Chery Revives a Land Rover Icon for the Electrified Age

Chery is about to resurrect a nameplate that once helped invent the compact premium SUV—only this time, the badge reads Freelander and the engineering passport says China. Ahead of its official debut on March 31, the first model from Chery’s new Freelander brand has surfaced in the least glamorous way possible: battered and bruised after a crash test. But even through the crumpled sheetmetal, the message is clear—this is a deliberate nod to the original Land Rover formula, reinterpreted for the electrified era.

The heavily damaged prototypes, published by Chinese outlets, still reveal blocky proportions and squared-off lighting signatures that echo the late-’90s original. The front-end graphic, in particular, mirrors teaser imagery released earlier in the week, suggesting Chery isn’t shy about leaning into heritage. Whether that nostalgia translates into credibility remains to be seen, but visually, the connection is unmistakable.

Underneath, things get decidedly more modern. The new Freelander will ride on Chery’s flexible T1X platform, a familiar architecture already doing duty under several of the company’s crossovers. It’s a pragmatic choice—shared bones keep costs down—yet it also signals that this isn’t a ground-up luxury endeavor. Instead, expect a polished mainstream crossover positioned beneath Jaguar Land Rover’s imported heavy hitters.

Powertrain details are still thin, but the first model will arrive as a plug-in hybrid. Chery says it aims to “echo the original spirit” of the Freelander while appealing to tech-savvy Chinese buyers, which likely means a blend of electric range, digital-heavy interiors, and competitive pricing. In other words: less muddy-boots authenticity, more urban sophistication.

Strategically, the Freelander revival fills a gap left by the outgoing Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, whose local production in China is ending this year. The new model will be built at the Chery-JLR joint-venture plant and sold through a dedicated dealer network run by Chery, rather than folded into JLR’s newly separated “House of Brands” lineup. That separation is telling—Freelander is being treated as something adjacent to, rather than directly part of, the luxury portfolio.

For now, the focus is squarely on China, though executives have hinted at possible global expansion. That’s where things get complicated. A Chinese-built Freelander entering Europe could overlap with JLR’s forthcoming entry-level electric SUVs, potentially cannibalizing sales before they’ve even found their footing. From a business standpoint, that makes any Western rollout far from guaranteed.

The original Freelander, launched in 1997, helped pioneer the compact premium SUV segment with its monocoque construction and approachable size. It lasted two generations before giving way to the Discovery Sport in 2015. Nearly three decades later, the formula returns—only now it’s electrified, digitally focused, and shaped by the realities of the world’s largest car market.

If nothing else, the Freelander’s comeback is a reminder that in today’s auto industry, no badge ever really dies. It just waits for the right platform—and the right market—to be reborn.

Source: Autocar; Photos: MyDrivers

News

Chery Adds Lepas to Its Growing UK Lineup

If you thought the UK had reached peak Chinese-car saturation, Chery would like a word. The fast-expanding automaker has confirmed that Lepas, its fourth brand for Britain, will land later this year, joining Omoda, Jaecoo, and Chery itself in what’s quickly becoming one of the most aggressive foreign market pushes in recent memory.

Lepas isn’t just another badge-engineering exercise. Chery says the brand was conceived specifically for Europe, and its name—apparently a mash-up of leopard, leap, and passion—suggests it wants to feel more energetic, more aspirational, and more premium-adjacent than your average budget import. Whether it lives up to that promise remains to be seen, but the intent is clear: this is Chery aiming for mainstream dominance, not niche curiosity.

Two Crossovers, Three Powertrains, One Big Strategy

Lepas’s UK debut will be built around two compact crossovers, the L4 and L6. They’ll ride on Chery’s T1X modular platform, which also underpins the Omoda 5, Jaecoo 5, and Jaecoo 7. That might sound like corporate copy-paste, but it’s actually the point: massive shared volume equals lower production costs, which equals more competitive pricing.

Both models are expected to be offered with internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and full battery-electric drivetrains—what China calls “new energy vehicles.” In other words, Lepas isn’t picking sides in the powertrain wars. It’s selling whatever the customer wants, which is exactly how you grow market share fast.

Styling: Familiar, But Not Accidental

Design-wise, Lepas walks a careful line. The cars take heavy influence from Chery’s Tiggo SUVs while also nodding toward European brands like Audi, with smooth surfaces, rounded edges, and a quietly upscale vibe. That’s not a coincidence. Chery wants Lepas to feel like a European-market brand, not a Chinese transplant.

The tricky part is internal competition. When you already sell multiple crossovers at similar sizes and prices, things can get messy. Chery’s management knows it—so much so that one internal presentation was literally titled “Too many brands?”

Their solution? Reposition everything.

  • Tiggo will go chunkier and more family-focused.
  • Omoda will lean into sharper, more aggressive, polygon-heavy styling.
  • Jaecoo will keep its outdoorsy, rugged image.
  • Lepas will sit in the sleek, modern, urban space—more style-led and tech-forward.

It’s not unlike what Volkswagen Group has done for decades, only Chery is doing it at hyperspeed.

Volume Is the Weapon

Chery isn’t pretending this is about art or brand purity. It’s about numbers.

“By offering different brands on the same platform, the volume is very big and that gives us a good price,” said Chery International president Zhang Guibing—and that one sentence explains the whole strategy.

And it’s working.

Last year, Chery’s three UK brands captured 2.65 percent of the British new-car market, beating Mini, Tesla, and BYD. That’s not a foothold—that’s a beachhead. With Lepas joining the party and more models coming across the board, Chery could soon be rubbing shoulders with brands like Renault, Skoda, and Kia.

Lepas isn’t just another crossover brand. It’s a signal that China’s carmakers are done playing on the fringes of Europe. They’re not here to sell a few bargain EVs—they’re here to compete head-on with the industry’s biggest names, in the heart of one of the world’s most brand-loyal markets.

If Chery gets the pricing right—and history suggests it will—Lepas could become the one that finally makes buyers stop asking, “Why would I buy a Chinese car?” and start asking, “Why wouldn’t I?”

For a company already outpacing Tesla in the UK, that’s a terrifyingly plausible future.

Source: Autocar

NEW CARS

Chery Fulwin T9L Previews a Big, Tech-Heavy Swing at the Mid-Size SUV Class

Chery has opened blind pre-orders for the Fulwin T9L, a new mid-size SUV that’s set to officially debut shortly after China’s Spring Festival—and it reads like a checklist of everything modern buyers say they want, plus a few things they didn’t know to ask for.

The T9L introduces a new design language for Chery, one that leans clean and futuristic rather than aggressive. Up front, a semi-enclosed grille flows into slim headlamps, while the lower bumper stacks its vents in tidy layers. The proportions are substantial: at 191.7 inches long with a 115.0-inch wheelbase, the Fulwin T9L lands squarely in the heart of the mid-size SUV segment, promising real interior space rather than brochure optimism.

From the side, semi-hidden door handles and frameless mirrors add a premium gloss, while the rear goes all-in on theatrics with a full-width taillight bar featuring wraparound elements and a dot-matrix signature. It’s modern without trying too hard, which may be the most impressive trick of all.

Inside, Chery clearly wants to play in a higher league. A full LCD instrument panel sits behind a two-spoke steering wheel, but your eyes will inevitably drift to the massive 17.3-inch 2.5K central display dominating the dash. The center console keeps things practical with wireless charging, dual cupholders, and a clean, horizontal layout.

Seating is where the Fulwin T9L really flexes. Up front, both driver and passenger get zero-gravity seats with 16-way power adjustment, ventilation, heating, massage, memory functions, lumbar support, and even leg rests. The second row isn’t treated like an afterthought either, offering electric recline up to 35 degrees, heating, ventilation, and more than 40 inches of legroom. Both rows can be folded into a “dual large bed mode,” which sounds like something invented by a marketing team—but could turn out to be a road-trip party trick owners actually use.

Tech overload continues with independent dual video and audio output for front and rear passengers, a 23-speaker Boyar Sound audio system pushing a claimed 1080 watts, and even an in-car refrigerator capable of heating or cooling between 6 and 50 degrees Celsius. Ambient lighting, vertical treble speakers, and a 3nm cockpit chip underpin the experience, allowing deep personalization for different drivers.

On the driver-assistance front, the Fulwin T9L comes armed with Chery’s Eagle 700+ system. A roof-mounted LiDAR unit, 27 sensors, and a Horizon Journey 6P chip delivering 560 TOPS of computing power enable both highway and city Navigation On Assist. The system promises automated lane changes, ramp navigation, traffic light recognition, intersection turns, and pedestrian avoidance—features that are rapidly becoming table stakes in China’s tech-forward SUV market.

Power comes from Chery’s Kunpeng Super Hybrid CDM system, now in its 6.0 iteration. A 1.5-liter turbocharged engine with a claimed thermal efficiency of nearly 46 percent pairs with a dedicated hybrid transmission to deliver a combined 349 horsepower. Opt for the all-wheel-drive version, and Chery says the T9L will sprint to 100 km/h in under five seconds, on its way to a 240 km/h top speed. Efficiency claims are just as ambitious, with fuel consumption as low as 3.9 L/100 km and a CLTC-rated electric-only range of up to 230 kilometers.

Chery hasn’t released pricing yet, but the Fulwin T9L’s spec sheet reads less like a cautious step forward and more like a challenge thrown squarely at established players. If the production version delivers on even most of these promises, Chery’s latest SUV could be less about following trends—and more about daring competitors to keep up.

Source: Chery