Land Rover has achieved a major milestone by producing the 300,000th Freelander 2 at its Halewood plant. It is a big achievement for the company which began the production of Freelander 2 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) in October 2006.
Designed for a Brazilian customer, the 300k milestone unit of new Freelander 2 is in Barolo Black. Brazil is one of the top selling emerging markets for the company, where it controls approximately 40 per cent of the share in the SUV segment.
In the US, 38,099 units were sold by the company in 2011, which is 20 per cent more than the figure in 2010. Two diesel powered versions of the car are provided by the company with a new turbocharger. The 2.2 litre, 188 hp diesel engine is fitted in the SD4, HSE variant, whereas the TD4, SE model gets 2.2 litre, 148 hp diesel engine. Torque churned by the engine of this car is 420 Nm at 1750 rpm. The engines of both cars are mated to a six speed automatic transmission system with Command Shift. CO2 emissions are lowered by eD4 Two Wheel Drive system to 158 g/km.
The new Freelander 2 is even more luxurious and spacious due to generous legroom and headroom. In order to create extra space, 60:40 split arrangement is made for the rear seat. The interiors of SD4 HSE get new Windsor Leather, whereas Napoli Leather is provided to the TD4 SE variant.
Some advanced safety features of the car include Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Electronic Traction Control (ETC), and Roll Stability Control (RSC). For increased safety, seven airbags are also provided in the car. In order to increase traction across wide variety of surfaces, unique Terrain Response System (TRS) is provided in the new Freelander 2.
Halewood Operations Director Richard Else, said, "I'd like to congratulate the Halewood team for reaching this superb milestone and also sustaining the highest quality standards on Freelander 2, during the Range Rover Evoque launch period. Freelander was Land Rover's biggest selling model last year retailing around 52,000 units globally."
