The new Land Rover Freelander 3 is coming in early 2015, but we can show you now what it could look like.
The new Freelander has some big boots to fill. Not only does it have to mirror the success of the current car – sales of which grew by 36 per cent at the start of 2013 compared with the start of 2012 – it also has to shine next to the company’s smash hit range Rover Evoque.
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Our exclusive image reveals how Land Rover will modernise the Freelander by taking cues from the top seller, while giving it rugged and useful appeal, too.
Setting the newcomer aside from the similarly sized Evoque will be a much more basic and hard-wearing cabin, with difficult plastics and much more resilient fabrics. The Freelander will also have fewer dashboard buttons than the model it replaces, thanks to a central touchscreen similar to that in the most recent range Rover.
Even though the new car has a similar footprint to the Evoque, Land Rover is certain the demand is there for both cars. It predicts that the global SUV market will grow from current annual sales of 14 million cars to 22 million by 2020. and the brand has come up with three ‘pillars’ with which to capitalise on this sales boom: luxury, leisure and dual-purpose.