Spied - Land Rover Freelander 2 spotted with a Chery engine under the hood

Regular Indian Autos Blog readers know that JLR has entered into a JV with Chery to locally build Jaguar and Land Rover models in China.

The JV which was formed late last year is not just about local production but also extends towards exchange of powertrains and technologies. Auto.sohu.com has the spyshots of the Land Rover Freelander 2 powered by Chery's 2.0 litre four cylinder petrol engine.

The Chery-JLR JV had previously announced that Chery's 1.6 litre and 2.0 litre petrol engines would be used in locally manufactured Freelanders and Evoques. The Chery powered Land Rovers will cater only to the Chinese market though.

The SQR484 J 2.0 litre petrol engine, in its original state of tune, puts out 185 bhp and 290 Nm of torque. The output is likely to be pumped up to 215 bhp and 350 Nm under the hood of the Freelander 2. The 1.6 litre turbocharged petrol engine is the same as the one used in the Qoros 3 sedan. It is to be noted that Qoros is partly owned by Chery.

The joint venture's upcoming plant in Changshu will manufacture the Freelander 2, Evoque and Jaguar's upcoming 3 Series rival along with the aforementioned engines. The production is expected to commence next year.

[Source: Auto.sohu.com]