Range Rover Autobiography Reviews

China’s Chery and India’s Tata Motors will team up on a new luxury brand that will launch two new models in 2027.This is thanks to a new report from Reuters, which claims Tata has forged a new partnership for its upcoming Avinya premium arm, after a plan to base the models on Jaguar Land Rover platforms fell through.The Indian giant told Reuters it plans to use the same platform, which underpins the upcoming Freelander 8 that is part of Chery’s existing tie-up with the Tata owned Jaguar Land Rover.The new deal with Tata will see the Chery platform components built in China and shipped as a knock-down kit, with final assembly occurring in India. They will cater to right-hand drive, opening up the opportunity for them to be exported to Australia. Chery’s new Freelander division also has designs to launch in Australia.Tata told Reuters, “Avinya is being developed as a global premium brand. Our collaboration with JLR and global partners will be an important pillar.”The vehicles were to be based on Jaguar Land Rover’s upcoming EMA platform, which was announced in 2024.That platform was originally designed to support next-generation electrified mid-size luxury SUVs, and was capable of supporting both hybrid, range extender and fully electric drivetrains.The switch to the Chery platform will shorten development timelines, in yet another example of a foreign brand embracing what has become known in the industry as “China Speed”.While Tata doesn’t currently have an automotive presence in Australia (aside from Jaguar Land Rover), the company’s main rival, Mahindra, offers several products in our market, showing a taste for Indian brands to expand.Tata turning to Chery also offers the Chinese giant a foothold in the Indian subcontinent, which it did not have before. As is the case in other markets, India has several barriers in place to stop Chinese automakers from having free market access in order to protect its domestic brands.It is part of a major global push by Chery, which has for a long time been one of China’s most successful brands in overseas markets. It already had strongholds in South America, and is in the process of establishing links in Europe, which looks to be the next battleground for Chinese brands.Nissan announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to allocate one of its production lines at its Sunderland UK plant to build Chery vehicles alongside Australian-bound Nissan Qashqais.

Given the way so many four-wheel drives have morphed into performance SUVs over the years, it’s no surprise Range Rover had its own take on a high-spec, high-stepping wagon. The difference being, of course, that with a Range Rover badge, the end result needed to be sporty(-ish) and capable of plugging through the worst forest tracks and trails imaginable.The product of that thinking became the Range Rover Sport.Although the badging and high-end interior materials said Range Rover, the platform with its semi-monocoque construction said Land Rover. Land Rover Discovery 3, to be precise. But when you started to explore the Sport’s on- and off-road abilities and its tremendous looking body, any misgivings might have been scratched.The range kicked off in Australia in 2005 as the L320 series and included a huge range of mechanical packages. They started with the 2.7TDV6 which used a 2.7 litre turbo-diesel V6 with a six-speed automatic. With 140kW performance was okay, but importantly, the L320 used a proper two-speed transfer-case with permanent four-wheel drive.There was also a 4.4-litre petrol V8 option with 220kW and a storming 4.2-litre supercharged petrol V8 with no less than 287kW at its disposal. Both of those also had six-speed automatic transmissions and all V8 models had a locking rear differential for more off-road prowess.A year after the model’s launch, Range Rover added a 3.6-litre twin-turbo diesel V8 model with 200kW.The Range Rover badge decreed that luxury could not be forgotten, so every version of the Sport featured 18-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, cruise control, LED lighting and leather upholstery. The 4.4-litre V8 version added a CD stacker, bi-xenon headlights, and rear parking sensors, while the diesel V8 carried the same specification but with 19-inch alloys. The supercharged Sport added 20-inch wheels, Brembo brakes, front parking sensors, memory seats and mirrors as well as hydraulically controlled anti-roll suspension.Air suspension was a much hyped part of the Sport deal with the (on-paper) ability to make the independent suspension work as if the vehicle had solid axles in tougher off-road settings.Range Rover gave the L320 a facelift (to Series 2 spec) in 2009 with new engines and improved suspension as well as interior improvements to make the driver’s job easier.The new engines started with a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, while the V8s were replaced by a 5.0-litre petrol V8. Available in either naturally aspirated or supercharged form, the new V8s were good for 276kW and a massive 375kW.The model was eventually replaced in 2013 by the L494 model Range Rover Sport. The short answer is yes, and no.The Range Rover Sport is a pretty amazing thing dynamically, able to combine high-speed stability with good comfort and even exceptional off-road abilities. That’s the ‘yes’ part.The ‘no’ comes in the form of a litany of serious mechanical and electrical problems that have surfaced over the years, tainting the Sport’s reputation.This car is a classic case of buyer beware, but if you do get lucky and find one that is reliable, the driving experience is hard to match. The problem is picking a good one, because the odds aren’t great that it will be clear sailing. In a nutshell, not great. In fact, not even close. Too many owners have had expensive, often catastrophic failures to make any other judgment. The problems are wide and varied, too, so there’s no short-cut to finding one that won’t necessarily break the bank.The rusted-on fans out there will beg to differ, but the facts are the facts, and this vehicle’s a gamble at best. This is no short list and the Range Rover Sport’s reputation for fragility and dud engineering is based on many years of turning motorists into mechanics.Let’s start with the real elephant in the room, the 2.7 and 3.0 litre V6 turbo-diesels. These have a pretty shocking record for destroying themselves due to problems with the bottom end bearings. Speculation is that the bearings themselves were either fitted incorrectly at the factory, or that they could wear and 'spin' in service. Either way, once you hear the warning noises from under the bonnet, you had a handful of seconds to pull off the road, shut the engine off and call a tow-truck. Any longer and you were likely to destroy the engine completely as the crankshaft failed due to the bearing problem.Symptoms that you have those precious seconds remaining include a knocking noise that gets louder as you load the engine, and a low oil pressure warning on the dashboard. Ignore it and you’ll soon have the con-rods on the ground under the car. Not nice.Scandalously, despite this being a known problem affecting the very earliest L320 cars, it took Land Rover until 2012 to sort a fix with a revised bearing design.Early examples of this engine also had a major design flaw in the oil pump assembly which was too weak to support the tensioner for the rubber timing belt that was mounted on the pump casing. This often showed up straight after a new timing belt was fitted and the added tension of the new belt exceeded the integrity of the pump casing.At that point, all hell boke loose as the timing belt jumped ship, allowing the pistons to collide with the valves and reducing the engine to scrap in milli-seconds. A revised pump casing design fixed things, but not before plenty of owners were replacing entire engines.The single turbocharger unit fitted to the 2.7-litre V6 was also prone to internal wear. Lots of white smoke from the exhaust was a sign that this was the case. Replacing the turbocharger unit was the usual fix. EGR valve failures on this engine are not unknown, either.The 5.0-litre supercharged V8 was not without problems and it often developed a rattle or ticking noise. This was usually traced to the timing chain tensioner, requiring the tensioner and the timing chain to be replaced. An improved design of the chain and tensioner helped, but didn’t arrive until the 2012 model.The Sport’s air suspension has also caused its share of grief with many owners returning to their vehicle to find it lying almost flat on the ground. The cause is usually the air suspension’s compressor system which can either fail to maintain the required ride height or simply allow all the air to escape the suspension units. One theory holds that the compressor itself was too small and was overworked, leading to failures.We’ve also heard of a few instances where the suspension units themselves have failed requiring costly replacement. But even the plastic plumbing for the air suspension seems underdone in the sense of a car designed for off-road work.Those are by no means the only faults associated with this make and model, but they’re the ones that keep surfacing over time. None of them are minor. Again, this is a long list because the Range Rover Sport has been far from immune from safety recalls to fix things that should never have gone wrong.Let’s start with the transmission which could sometimes refuse to select Park. This affected very early build L320s.Then there was the ABS sensor which could chafe its wiring on the wheel under extreme cornering and suspension travel situations. Again, this affected early (2005 and 2006) models.Perhaps the recall with the greatest potential for mayhem was one for V6 turbo-diesel vehicles built between mid-2004 and mid-2009. In those, there was a chance the vacuum system and the entire braking system could fail, leading to a total loss of brake performance. And again, that’s an awful lot of cars to be affected by such a serious defect.The L320 was also recalled at various points in time to correct faulty crank angle sensors that would stop the engine in its tracks, door latches that wouldn’t (latch) and fuel pumps that could fail prematurely.You can find out more by visiting https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/ Later built cars were definitely better than earlier-build examples, purely because Range Rover had time to sort things out (not that it always did). But the one vehicle we’d avoid would be the turbo-diesel in any of its forms as these were the ones with the dicky bottom end. This is a vehicle where the fewer kilometres covered, the better. That said, you do see the odd one with better than 400,000km on board still getting around, but it would be very interesting to find out how much of a grandfather’s axe it is. Those high-milers are also almost always turbo-diesel cars, too, but that’s as much a function of the fact that this vehicle arrived in Australia when diesel was the new black, and people were flocking to it. It’s very difficult to recommend this make and model unless you’re an expert in diagnosing and fixing them and don’t mind a bit of down time. The non-supercharged petrol V8 stands a better chance of going the distance, but even it lives in the shadow of air suspension failures and other maladies. A high-mileage turbo-diesel can be had for comfortably less than $10,000 these days. In fact, you see them advertised for as little as $5000 which still makes them a punt, but a much lower-stakes punt.There’s a wide spread of prices after that with something like a supercharged V8 version with 100,000km showing for between $45,000 and $50,000. The one thing in the Sport’s favour as a long-term proposition is the magnificent repair and parts industry that has sprung up around the brand. You could argue that’s a function of necessity to keep a flawed product on the road, but it also reflects the fanaticism the Range Rover brand has created for itself.There’s a legion of specialist workshops that know these vehicles backwards and can supply pretty much every part needed. Independent specialists are also usually a lot cheaper than Range Rover dealership repairs and servicing.The better news is that every time a Range Rover Sport is pensioned off or scrapped its parts help keep other Rangies on the road. There’s no way of knowing how many L320 Range Rover Sports were sold during the model’s eight years on sale. But we can tell you that the bigger online sales sites have between 50 and 140 L320s available for sale.The vast majority of those are turbo-diesel V6 variants.

The Land Rover Defender Octa Black is supposed to be the 'ultimate Defender', but I'll be the judge of that after living with this monstrously capable high-performance luxury SUV for a week.

Stellantis, owner of Jeep, and Jaguar Land Rover have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to “explore opportunities to collaborate on product development in the United States”.Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis said: “By working with partners to explore synergies in areas such as product and technology development, we can create meaningful benefits for both sides while remaining focused on delivering the products and experiences our customers love.” Meanwhile PB Balaji, CEO of JLR said: “As we continue to evolve JLR for the future, collaboration will play an important role in unlocking new opportunities. Working with Stellantis allows us to explore complementary capabilities in product and technology development that support our long‑term growth plans for the US market.”The tie-up comes as both companies face a tough tariff environment in the US, with Stellantis being embattled there in previous years with its previous CEO, Carlos Tavares, focusing largely on the European operation. JLR, meanwhile, could gain a foothold in the lucrative US market, where it does not currently have a manufacturing footprint.The partnership marks a major change in strategy for embattled Stellantis, which posted a A$37 billion dollar loss in 2025. Its house of 14 brands includes diverse marques from Jeep to Peugeot and Maserati. Under Tavares the US operation suffered, particularly Jeep. The brand pivoted to a more premium position, which didn’t resonate with buyers. Locally, it even resulted in the Grand Cherokee being pulled from sale as Jeep chose to focus on its more competitive offerings.JLR recently ended production of Jaguar models as it gears up for a major re-boot of its luxury passenger car brand, with the company still managing to post good results for 2025 off the back of record sales of the popular Defender and surging global sales of its new Range Rover Sport.The brand even claims that it has taken over 32,000 expressions of interest globally for its upcoming Jaguar Type 01 GT car.A bruising cyberattack, which shut down the brand’s factories in late 2025, has had an impact on the JLR’s bottom line. New tariffs in the US have caused the UK based company to post a 99 per cent profit slump in the first months of 2026.Both companies, which have been rivals in the past, have also turned to their Chinese joint-ventures for more global resilience.Stellantis has made clear its plan to lean on more partnerships, particularly with its Leapmotor joint-venture, and more recently, a new tie-up with Dongfeng to build more Peugeot models in China.Jaguar Land Rover has re-booted the Freelander marque as part of its joint-venture with Chery. The first model, the Freelander 8, pairs the design motifs from the previous Freelander small SUVs with an 800-volt architecture from Chery, plotted to be offered in both range extender hybrid and fully electric forms.Unlike previous Freelanders though, the new Chery-based model is an over-five-meter long three-row SUV. The tie-up has global aspirations and will exist independently of both Land Rover and Chery, and has been confirmed for an Australian launch.

Land Rover has hinted at a radical direction change for its next-generation Discovery SUV. The Discovery has been experiencing a sales downturn in Australia, which reflects a global trend for the previously popular name. The Discovery has found itself in a changing environment, which has contributed to the fact it has sold the least number of units in Australia out of any model in the Land Rover lineup so far this year.The Defender SUV's successful introduction in 2021 has seen it become a big seller. It has arguably come at the expense of other models, such as the Discovery, but a spokesperson for Land Rover Australia said there remained separate customer bases for the Defender and the Discovery.  SUV alternatives have blown out in the past few years as well, with rivals introducing cheaper and similarly specified vehicles. Freelander is likely to be a direct rival for the Discovery, adding to its mounting task to recapture sales. Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer P.B. Balaji has confirmed the brand will take drastic action to rectify the model's decline. “Discovery is very much part of our ‘House of Brands’. an important part of our offering to the customers, and where the customer is able to access the brand, and the entire JLR franchise, at much more affordable prices,” Balaji told United Kingdom outlet Auto Express.“At the same time, it needs to be uniquely differentiated. Some customers have indeed migrated to a Defender. 
And therefore, that is the work that we are currently on to.“You should expect to hear from us, future plans on Discovery, sooner rather than later. We are as committed to the Discovery as any of our other brands.”The Discovery will also have to fight off competition from the incoming Chery sub-brand Freelander Down Under, which is part of a joint venture between JLR and Chery. It is unclear when this new Discovery model will be announced, but it appears to be one of Land Rover’s immediate priorities. A spokesperson for Land Rover said they could not confirm any details about the new Discovery model in the works or its potential arrival in Australia. The Discovery is currently in Australia as a petrol-only model, starting from $73,595 (before on-road costs), making it the cheapest model in the brand’s lineup. It is mainly powered by a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, producing up to 184kW and 365Nm, but there is a limited edition version of the car, which comes with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6.

A new ultra-luxury Range Rover has just been priced in Australia, and it will be the most expensive model in the lineup.The Range Rover SV Ultra will start from $472,400 (before on-road costs), which is in excess of $10,000 more than the previous range-topping SV.The Ultra variant debuts with a new electrostatic sound system, which will be an option available on all models in the SV range.Range Rover claims this high-quality sound system is a world-first in a car, and has 21 electrostatic panels. These panels are located down the back of the seats, including the headrests as well as in more generic speaker locations. Electrostatic sound systems shift the sound-producing material back and fourth electrically to deliver high-level clarity.Headlining other features on this model is the addition of a ‘sensory floor’ and ‘body and soul seats’, which offers different wellness modes to enhance focus and relaxation, according to the brand. The sensory floor utilises haptic feedback beneath the floor mats.Elsewhere in the cabin, there are new two-tone high-quality synthetic leather seats, with white and grey colours.On the outside, the car has been given an exclusive silver paint, which Range Rover said is designed to resemble liquid metal, along with satin platinum and chrome elements. It will ride on 23-inch wheels, which have also been given satin platinum inserts and new centre caps. The car gets the same 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine as in the P615, producing 452kW and 750Nm, so it can sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds. The SV Range Rover will continue to rival the likes of the Aston Martin DBX and the Bentley Bentayga, which both have price tags starting around the $400K point.It will also take on Lamborghini’s Urus, offering a plug-in hybrid V8 set-up. The car will hit Australian showrooms in the first quarter of next year, but there is expected to be less than 10 models coming Down Under.2026 Range Rover SV pricing Australia 

There is a new limited edition Range Rover Sport, which has just been announced in Australia. With only 25 units available for the car, it will start from $233,200 (before on-road costs). This means it is roughly $6000 cheaper than the previous cheapest V8 variant of the car. The ‘Twenty’ Edition is to celebrate 20 years of the Range Rover Sport. It shapes up as a rival for the V8-powered BMW X5 M60i and M Competition, with price tags of $177,900 and $247,800 (before on-road costs). It also takes on other high-end luxury performance SUVs such as the Audi SQ7 and the Porsche Cayenne, which are also nearer to the $200K mark. The most noticeable changes come elsewhere in the car, with it offered in exclusive ‘Ostuni’ white and ‘Santorini’ black paint options.It also includes a blacked out exterior package to give the car a sleek and stealthy look. There are 23-inch wheels finished in a glossy silver featuring a ‘Twenty’ etching, along with other branding such as on the treadplates and the centre console. On the inside, there are forged carbon veneers and a black suedecloth headlining, while the high-quality leather seats have been lifted out of the up-spec SV variant.It will be powered by Land Rover’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, producing 390kW and 750Nm. This is the same amount of power as in the base V8 Sport variant, which can shift from 0-100km/h in under five seconds. The Range Rover Sport was first introduced in 2005 and is now in its third generation. During its time on the sales charts, the car has been part of several high-profile stunts, such as the 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate in China back in 2020. The ‘Twenty’ Edition is available for order now. 

Sometimes car companies just get it wrong.Despite all the market research, focus groups, design studies and marketing programs, some cars just don’t sell. Sometimes it’s a case of being the right car at the wrong time, arriving ahead of the curve or after the boom. We looked at that recently with the Holden Volt, a plug-in hybrid that arrived too soon (and for too much money) to be successful, even if the concept was right.But then there are some cars that are just a complete miss, arriving as an undesirable product. They are, to be blunt, the wrong car at the wrong time.Here are some examples of what happens when carmakers get it wrong.The decision to end local manufacturing for Holden cannot have been an easy one for General Motors management, but it was probably an inevitable one. The decision they did not have to make was to destroy the brand equity, not to mention the national pride and love, in the Commodore badge.While most of the cars on this list are obviously bad choices with the benefit of hindsight, the ZB Commodore was an obviously bad choice at the time. It was meant to soften the blow of the departure of the brilliant and beloved VF Commodore, but it only served to rub salt into the wounds.To the nice folks at Opel, GM’s German division, who developed the car (which was known as the Insignia in Europe) this was like having your glass of beer taken away and replaced with water from a muddy puddle with ‘beer’ written on the glass.It wasn’t a ‘Commodore’ in any way, shape or form, despite what Holden PR tried to spin at the time. Holden and GM should have followed the example Ford set with the Falcon and retired the name with dignity rather than slapping it on a sub-par import.Sometimes in life you’re faced with a 50-50 decision to make and the difference it makes in the long run can be enormous, or even catastrophic. That’s the case with Ford Australia and the Territory Turbo.The Territory was an inspired decision, a great example of delivering the right car at the right time. Ford managed to get in on the SUV craze just as it started to rise in the early 2000s, offering buyers who were starting to look for something taller than a Falcon an in-house alternative.The problem was, in 2006 they decided to expand the line-up and made the wrong call on that 50-50 decision. Legend has it that Ford Australia only had the funds to develop a Territory Turbo OR a Territory diesel, but not both at the same time.In the words of the Knight at the end of that Indiana Jones movie: “They chose poorly.”Thankfully they didn’t shrivel up and die in an instant, like the Indiana Jones’ nemesis, but it was a decision that didn’t help the future of Ford’s local models.By the time the Territory diesel did arrive in 2011, along with a facelift, Ford had lost too much ground to imported rivals and by the end of 2016, the Territory was done. While Ford’s decision to add the turbocharged ‘Barra’ engine to the Territory seemed logical, given the high demand for that engine in the Falcon XR6 Turbo, it highlighted the difference between the Falcon and Territory buyer.In the same way a diesel Falcon would have been a terrible idea in 2006, so too did the Territory Turbo prove a costly mistake.The Evoque was a brilliant addition to Range Rovers’ line-up, another demonstration of reading the market to perfection and adding a smaller model when that’s what luxury SUV customers were looking for.Unfortunately, the Evoque Convertible was as bad an idea as the Evoque was a good one. And this was one of those ideas that you really could tell wasn’t brilliant at the time.Sure, the SUV market was rapidly changing at that point and there were some unlikely sales hits, namely Audi’s turbo-diesel SQ5. If a diesel SUV can be a popular performance car, surely a convertible would be appealing, right?Wrong. Very, very wrong.Introduced in mid-2016, the final Evoque drop-top rolled off the production line in 2018. A footnote in the history of Range Rover, and one they’d probably like to forget.As Mazda prepares to launch its second and third EVs, the sharply-priced 6e and CX-6e, it can be easy to forget its first attempt. And they might prefer you did.The MX-30 was a bolder-than-average design, with ‘suicide doors’ that were actually more like ‘choke the front seat occupants if you opened the rear doors’, but it fit nicely into the popular Mazda line-up.The problem was what was powering the MX-30. For starters, Mazda hedged its bets, offering its much-hyped EV with a mild-hybrid powertrain option, just to confuse the issue. Which was needed because the EV only had a small battery and a theoretical driving range of only 200km, but a big price tag of over $66k.While EV sales were starting to increase at this point, so seemingly the time was right, Mazda was behind the times in terms of both capability and cost. It was destined to fail and that’s what it did, quietly pulled from sale after only three years.The American brand’s attempt to crack the lucrative ute (or ‘truck’ if you’re American) market was over before it began. On the one hand you have to give credit to Tesla for not trying to take on Ford, Chevrolet and Ram head on. But, on the other hand, what the heck were they thinking?The Cybertruck was always going to be a niche offering, with Tesla frontman Elon Musk's 250,000 annual sales claim being wildly optimistic (to put it very delicately). As the flop of the F-150 Lightning demonstrated, there is simply not a market for electric utes, whether they look like a traditional ute or something created by the work experience kid after a lot of caffeine.Where Musk and the rest of Tesla management thought they’d find 250,000 people who wanted to look like they just drove out of a 1990s computer game remains a mystery to equal the lost city of Atlantis.Electric utes may seem like a good idea, but their time has simply not come year, but certainly the Cybertruck is not what people want.

It was not so long ago plug-in hybrids looked to have found the middle ground between electrified power and long driving range. PHEV power experienced more growth than any other powertrain type in 2025 - and by some significant margin. It was up by more than 130 per cent compared to 2024.Leading the charge for PHEV power is the BYD Shark 6 ute, one of the few utes to experience sales growth last year. Its 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine and dual electric motors provided outstanding fuel economy (when the battery was charged) capturing attention despite modest towing and carrying capacity. Most other brands have also jumped on the PHEV pathway, especially in the SUV segment. However, it now looks like a change might be on the horizon, as fully-electric sales continue to rise and at an even faster rate.There is a combination of factors likely contributing to this new set of circumstances in the new car sales space.While PHEVs offer incredible fuel efficiency, EVs do not need any fuel and obviously have far superior electric-only driving range with electric-only driving range remaining one of the biggest selling points for PHEVs. This is becoming an increasingly relevant point for buyers due to the current scarcity and cost of fuel in Australia.One of the other key factors which could erode PHEV sales is the substantial improvement in driving range of electric cars. Most EVs now offer more than 400km before needing to be charged, and even then charging times have also rapidly improved, with most brands targeting a 30 minute-or-less fast charge time compared to an hour previously.Charging infrastructure has been seeing rapid investment in Australia in the past 12 months, with governments as well as major brands getting on board. Just this week, the New South Wales government announced $45 million of funding towards new public fast chargers as part of its ‘2026 NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy’, and this adds to the existing federal ARENA public funding for EV infrastructure.BYD has also confirmed it will bring its ‘Flash’ charging to Australia this year, removing barriers to charge speed usually imposed by the grid thanks to an inclusion of a high-voltage buffer battery.There is also the question of increasing accessibility to electric vehicles in Australia, with many becoming available at a more affordable price point. The BYD Atto 1, for example, is available from $23,990, before on-road costs, while the cheapest PHEV, also a BYD, the Sealion 5 is $10,000 more. This is more reflective of the types of vehicles in which PHEV set-ups are offered as opposed to electric cars. The most common PHEV car body type is SUVs, which targets family buyers and more car (size-wise, with two powertrains instead of one) costs you more money.And yet, the models surging the most in the sales charts are the fully electric Tesla Model Y and Zeekr 7X, which are both in that core mid-size family buyer segment.This combined with the early adopter phase for much of this technology ending and electrified cars becoming more mainstream will mean some buyers who don't have access to home charging, like those who live in units, might not be able to utilise the key benefits of a PHEV.Many of this wider-audience may value the range on offer from an EV, which will see them charge only once or twice a week as a benefit at such a competitive price-point, not having to worry about not being able to charge at home, and not needing to fuel up altogether. This is also an audience which predominantly buys small or mid-size SUVs.PHEVs then, may be destined to be relegated to only larger vehicles, like utes and three-row SUVs where battery electrics become less cost competitive.

Land Rover’s Freelander is back, not as an SUV, but as a standalone brand in a joint venture with China's Chery.The first model from the new partnership was revealed overnight in China ahead of its debut at the upcoming Beijing motor show.The first model has been called the Concept 97, in recognition of the year the original Freelander was introduced by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).The Concept 97 draws on the Land Rover design identity with its blocky, tall and sophisticated styling while the original Freelander's unique triangular rear three-quarter window is revived again on the new model.The interior also has a familiar look sharing design elements and materials with Land Rover models, but new features we haven’t seen before from the brand include a curved display the full length of the dashboard.There are some features on the large six seater SUV, which won’t make it into production, including the rear-hinged side doors and the most likely the open-plan lounge-like setting in the second row, too.  JLR is already in a partnership with Chery in China; the joint venture sees the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport produced and the JLR-Chery plant in Changsu. When the Concept 97 goes into production it will also be manufactured at the Changsu factory and be produced as a pure EV and hybrid. The Discovery Sport and Evoque will be discontinued to make way for the Freelander model range.Freelander CEO Wei Lan told British publication Autocar at the Concept 97’s preview in China that while the Concept 97 would go into production and be sold initially in China, the plan was to then debut the vehicle markets around the world."International variants are currently in intensive development and shall, after launch in China, make their distinguished entry into the world's foremost markets," Lan told Autocar. "From its very first day of existence, every Freelander product is conceived and calibrated for the diverse demands of markets across the world. We are not exporting a Chinese car to the world but we are building a world car, for the world, from the very beginning."  The Concept 97 is built on Chery’s T1X platform, which also underpins the Tiggo 8 and will support EV, hybrid and range extender variants with 800V battery architecture.The range extender battery has been developed with CATL and features what it calls a world first "Freevoy Range-Extended Hybrid Battery" design allowing the range extender version to be charged at 360kW.The range extender battery has been designed with off-road use in mind and comes with underbody protection and a thermal coating to keep it cool.JLR-Chery plans to have the first Frelander model go into production and on sale  by  mid-2026 before being launched globally. JLR-Chery will then embark on an ambitious growth plan, which it says will see the introduction of a new Freelander model every six months. Will the new range of Freelanders make it to Australia? Nothing has been confirmed but Chery's executives haves been open to bringing more sub-brands into the country.Earlier this year Chery Chief Executive Officer Lucas Harris has said there is more room for additional sub-brands in Australia.“Why not?” Harris told CarsGuide.“Chery is the brand where you never say never.”