Land Rover Freelander 2 hits 250,000. But is this the zenith?

Land Rover has today produced the 250,000th Freelander 2 at their plant in Halewood. But has the Freelander reached its zenith?

It’s the car that started the whole compact SUV / softroader love affair back in 1997. Thankfully, the Freelander has come a long way since then, and the Land Rover Freelander 2 is a properly good car.

So good is the Freelander 2 that Land Rover are celebrating the 250,000th Freelander 2 to roll off the production line today at Halewood. And in case you’re interested it’s a TD4 GS in Fuji White and destined for a life in Scotland. Was that planned?

But we wonder if the 250,000th Freelander 2 in some way accidentally marks the zenith for Land Rover’s baby?

Make no mistake, the Freelander 2 is a properly good Land Rover with proper off-roading abilities and lots of luxury kit, as we discovered when we reviewed the Freelander 2 TD4 last year and just this month with the latest Freelander 2 SD4. But it’s about to take a battering – particularly in HSE guise – from the Range Rover Evoque.

The Evoque is designed to be what the Freelander has become – a baby Range Rover. And that is bound to eat away at Freelander sales as the Evoque comes on stream and presents a cooler, more on-road friendly small Range Rover option. At prices that start a chunk before the Freelander ends.

But the Freelander only has two years left to live before the complete revamp of the Land Rover range, and we’re sure Land Rover will keep sales moving to a degree by concentrating on bargain Limited Edition Freelanders, like the sub-£20k Freelander 2 White & Black.

The only way may now be down for the Freelander 2, but it’s still a fine car.