Freelander 8 UAE launch 2026: road tests, price and specs

© D.Novikov для SPEEDME.RU

The Freelander 8 has moved from promises of global export to road testing in its first overseas market. Pre-production vehicles were photographed in the UAE, and the brand’s official plan already points to an international launch in Abu Dhabi in September. Chery and Jaguar Land Rover chose the Emirates as the starting point for Freelander’s overseas expansion.

The published photos show two partially camouflaged vehicles. One unit has no roof-mounted LiDAR. That’s notable, since Huawei’s Qiankun ADS 5 is listed as standard across the Chinese lineup. It’s too early to say whether the base export version will actually skip LiDAR, but the test car shows the UAE configuration may differ from the Chinese one. Pre-orders opened in China on August 14.

Pricing already hints at positioning. The five-seat Freelander 8 starts at 339,900 yuan, roughly $50,000, while the six-seat version starts at 349,900 yuan. The First Edition carries a list price of 459,900 yuan, about $67,600, with a promotional price of 449,900 yuan, or roughly $66,200. Chery-JLR said it received more than 10,000 pre-orders in the first 48 hours.

The production EREV uses a 1.5-liter turbo engine purely as a generator, paired with a 60.3 kWh CATL Freevoy battery. The claimed electric-only range is 310 km under CLTC, with a 20–80% charge taking 12 minutes on 6C-capable chargers. An earlier figure of 221 km referred to a different testing cycle, so the two numbers aren’t a direct before-and-after comparison of the battery.

The two electric motors produce a combined 610 kW, or 818 hp. Torque is rated at 813 Nm, with a 0–100 km/h time of 4.6 seconds. The chassis includes rear-wheel steering with up to 10° of angle, dual-chamber air suspension, and an off-road transmission with a front mechanical locking differential.

Dimensions match a full-size SUV: 5,118 x 2,050 x 1,898 mm with a 3,040 mm wheelbase. Five- and six-seat layouts are available, and the three-row version gets two separate second-row captain’s chairs with heating, ventilation, and massage. Inside, there’s a 46.3-inch panoramic display, a 15.6-inch center screen, and a 17.3-inch ceiling-mounted monitor.

Just a month ago, the Freelander 8 had already reached Chinese dealerships before pricing was announced, with commercial terms the main unknown at the time. Now the Chinese price list is out, demand is being measured in pre-orders, and cars are on the road in the first export market. The brand itself was built from the start as a standalone Chery-JLR lineup with British design and Chinese electrified architecture, rather than another Land Rover model.

For the UAE, local pricing, the full trim lineup, and the final sensor package haven’t been published yet. The September Abu Dhabi debut should show whether the export Freelander 8 keeps the Chinese-spec 610 kW powertrain and Huawei ADS 5 across every trim, or gets a separate configuration for Gulf markets.