Land Rover Freelander 2 Achieves Production Milestone
The smallest member of Land Rover/Range Rover family, at least until the Evoque arrives, has achieved a significant production milestone as the 250,000th unit rolls off the production line.
Employees at the company’s Halewood manufacturing plant in Merseyside celebrated production of the milestone car which was a 2.2 litre TD4 Diesel GS in Fuji White and is destined for a customer who lives in Scotland.
The lovely British crossover has been doing well in sales recently even though it doesn’t get as much media attention as its bigger brothers. Production of the Freelander 2 began in 2007 and today, the plant’s 250,000th Freelander 2 will be driven off of the line. Land Rover is also celebrating a growing demand for Halewood’s award winning model as retail sales for the popular model are up 22%, year to date (Apr 2010 – Feb 2011) compared with the same 11 month period in 2009/2010.
The 2011 Freelander 2 is available with either 2WD or 4WD and a refined 2.2 litre diesel engine offering two power outputs – the 190hp SD4 and the 150hp TD4. With class-leading on and off-road performance, featuring Terrain ResponseTM, a premium cabin, improved fuel economy and an affordable cost of ownership the Freelander 2 is now on-sale available from 21,995 GBP.
Here’s more details on the FreeLander 2:
Halewood operations director Richard Else, commented: “This milestone achievement and the increasing sales for Freelander 2 highlights just how important this vehicle is, not just to Halewood but also for the regional and UK economy – around 70% of Freelanders produced at Halewood are exported overseas. I’d like to thank our flexible and highly skilled workforce and congratulate the Halewood team on this superb achievement.”
The 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 model range, on sale in the UK from the end of September 2010, benefits from a new 2.2-litre diesel engine available with either 150PS or 190PS outputs, a new look exterior plus interior alterations including new instrument dials and a new Premium Pack option.
Land Rover’s new turbo diesel engine is available in the 4WD TD4 150PS model featuring a manual transmission and intelligent Stop/Start technology as standard (an automatic gearbox without Stop/Start is available as a cost option), or the new SD4 model delivering 190PS (available in automatic transmission only).
This new engine is quieter, more efficient and both derivatives have 20Nm more torque than the outgoing engine. This means the 2011 Freelander 2 offers improved engine response and more mid-range strength for towing. CO2 emissions have been significantly reduced to 165g/km and 185g/km respectively with corresponding fuel economy benefits.
However, despite reductions in consumption and emissions, there has been no compromise in performance. The flagship 190PS Land Rover Freelander SD4 accelerates from rest to 60mph in 8.7 seconds with an increased top speed of 118mph. The Land Rover Freelander 150PS TD4 manual and automatic versions match the performance of their predecessors.
As well as being upgraded from EU4 to EU5, both versions have a new variable geometry turbocharger and have been extensively re-calibrated to deliver new levels of power, meet emissions regulations and reduce CO2 emissions. They are fitted with a catalysed diesel particulate filter as standard and are now compatible with 10 per cent biodiesel rather than 5 per cent.
As an addition to the Land Rover Freelander 2 range, Land Rover will also offer customers a 2WD derivative, available in the UK from January 2011. This will be called the Land Rover Freelander 2 eD4 and it will be the most efficient Land Rover ever produced, with fuel consumption of 47.2mpg combined, and CO2 emissions of just 158g/km.
