Are Land Rover planning a sub-Freelander model?

Are Land Rover planning a smaller Freelander?

It’s reported that Land Rover are planning a sub-Freelander model to fit in below the current Freelander 2 as a ‘leisure’ vehicle.

Land Rover, just like Jaguar, are very much on the up since Tata took the reins in 2008 and are investing heavily in future models with 40 new models, variations and other product promised in the next few years and JLR profits of over £1 billion a year.

We already know that a new 2013 Range Rover is imminent, to be followed soon after by the 2013 Range Rover Sport. But what happens to the regular ‘Land’ Rover, as opposed to the luxury ‘Range’ Rover cars when the new platforms arrive in the next few years?

Inside Line say they’ve got news on the direction of the current Land Rover models – Freelander 2 (LR2 in the States) and Discovery 4 (LR4 in the States) – once the dust settles and Land Rover re-establish their range.

The plan is to make the Freelander and Discovery more ‘Leisure’ oriented with more car-like interiors and a more striking styling (we’re not sure how that will be received by the many working farmers we know who run Discos) and to add a new model below the Freelander to mop up sales from the aspirational, tapping in to the ‘Urban Warrior’ market.

Since Land Rover made the Discovery 4 / LR4 more marketable by pushing the interior upmarket and adding a bit of Range Rover glitz to the exterior they’ve seen sales rise, and it seems they feel that’s the right way to go for the future.

None of this is particularly close, but it does start to make clear how Land Rover intend differentiating Land Rover models from Range Rover models going forward.