Another Chinese brand is coming to Australia, and it's another one from Chery

It can be hard to keep track of all the Chinese auto brands coming to Australia, and it’s getting hard to keep track of just those from Chery.

Chery Australia has confirmed it will launch the Freelander brand here next year, after the news was first broken by TheAutoExec last week.

“The plan is to introduce the Freelander brand here in 2027, but no further details at this time,” said a spokesperson in a statement to CarExpert.

Previewed last month with the Concept 97, the Freelander brand is the creation of not only Chery but also its joint-venture partner JLR (aka Jaguar Land Rover).

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Chery and JLR have had a joint venture in China since 2012, which has seen the Chinese automaker manufacture vehicles for its British partner to sell on the domestic market.

Now, this partnership is pivoting, with Chery to produce Freelanders for both Chinese domestic and global markets.

Freelander has yet to reveal a production model, while details on its only concept thus far are scarce, which explains the brevity of Chery Australia’s statement.

It won’t be the only brand from Chery’s menagerie to land here between now and the end of 2027.

Lepas is due to be launched here midway through this year, and is expected to offer a range of small to large crossover SUVs – like Chery and Omoda Jaecoo – but with a focus on bold colours.

The iCaur brand, which offers a range of electric vehicles (EVs) and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) with boxy SUV bodies, is expected to land here early in 2027.

Jetour has also sent out media invites ahead of a planned market launch around mid-2026, though it’ll operate independently of Chery Group brands.

Those brands will have to establish themselves in Australia with unfamiliar names, though this is something Chery-owned Omoda Jaecoo has been working on since it commenced deliveries in 2025.

The Freelander brand, first announced in 2024, will have the benefit of an at least somewhat familiar name.

This name was borrowed from a Land Rover sold here across two generations from 1998 to 2015, with a total of 15,218 examples reaching customers.

The Concept 97 revealed this year is named after the first year of Freelander production, and features various exterior design elements from both generations of Land Rover’s former entry-level SUV.

Inside, however, the concept is very much a product of the 2020s. That includes a large free-standing infotainment touchscreen, plus a pillar-to-pillar display at the base of the windscreen.

No details have been released yet about what will power the production version, though it’s expected to use Chery’s T1X platform which supports plug-in hybrid and electric powertrains.

Chery says its brands don’t fall on a typical ladder from entry-level to luxury, and that instead they’re aimed at different customer groups.

At least on paper though, there’s significant overlap. Chery and Omoda Jaecoo both offer duelling small, mid-size and large crossover SUVs, for example, with Lepas to follow; iCaur and Freelander will also both offer boxy and likely electrified SUVs.

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