Freelander, the revived brand created by the joint venture between Chery (HKEX: 9973) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), is delaying the pre-sales event of its first model by four days because of a strong typhoon closing in on the coast of east China.
The event, originally set for August 10, is now planned for August 14, the brand’s global chief marketing officer, Zhou Wen, said on Weibo on Thursday.
The decision to move the date was made „out of comprehensive consideration for everyone’s travel and event safety, given the passage of Typhoon Dolphin,“ he wrote.
The event was to be held in Changshu, Jiangsu province, home to the production base for Freelander models. Zhou said the pre-sales had drawn invitations not only to major domestic media, but also to a large number of customers.
„Safety always comes first,“ he said, adding that the team would use the time to refine its preparations.
Typhoon Dolphin briefly strengthened to a super typhoon on Tuesday and weakened to a strong typhoon early Wednesday, with maximum winds near its center still at force 15.
China’s National Meteorological Center expects the typhoon to pass through the Ryukyu Islands during the day on August 7 before moving into the East China Sea, slowing down and approaching the coast of east China.
China’s National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center issued an orange wave alert on Thursday, forecasting waves of 6 to 10 meters in the eastern part of the East China Sea.
Forecasters said the typhoon’s later track remains highly uncertain, due to a break-up of the subtropical high and newly formed tropical systems to its east.
The first production Freelander 8 rolled off the line on July 30 at the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu. It is the first product of the joint venture’s shift to premium new energy vehicles.
The extended-range all-terrain SUV is aimed at the high-end off-road market and is among the world’s first models to feature Huawei’s quad-LiDAR solution and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8397 automotive-grade chip. Huawei’s Qiankun ADS is standard across the lineup.
The vehicle measures 5,118 millimeters long (5,185 millimeters optional), 2,050 millimeters wide and 1,898 millimeters tall, with a wheelbase of 3,040 millimeters and a 2+2+2 six-seat layout.
The Freelander 8 is equipped with a 1.5T range extender paired with a 60.331-kWh ternary lithium battery from CATL (HKEX: 3750), giving it 221 kilometers of all-electric range.
Freelander was once a classic model line under Jaguar Land Rover. It was elevated on March 31 this year into a standalone brand dedicated to new energy vehicles (NEVs), with plans for six new models over the next five years.
To support the transition, the joint venture has put an additional 3 billion yuan ($442 million) into the Changshu plant, mainly for production line upgrades.
($1 = 6.7889 yuan)
