Back in April, at the Beijing Auto Show, Brazil was one of 23 markets where Chery’s premium brand Exeed was supposed to launch by the end of 2026. Less than four months later, that timeline has slipped by two full years. Chery International now lumps Exeed together with Freelander and Luxeed in a single plan, and all three brands are set for a Brazilian debut no earlier than 2028.
According to Motor1 Brasil, none of the three brands will go through CAOA Chery — all of them will launch directly under the Chinese parent structure. It’s a familiar playbook for the group: Omoda and Jaecoo already operate in Brazil independently of the local partner. Jetour, though, sits outside this new grouping and will keep running its own operation.
The strangest member of the upcoming trio is Freelander. A name that once belonged to Land Rover now labels a standalone family of electrified vehicles built by the JLR–Chery joint venture. Back in 2024, when the project was announced, JLR was clear about the order: China first, export markets later. Now that “later” finally has an address — Brazil.
The brand’s first model, the Freelander 8, runs a series hybrid setup: a 1.5-liter gasoline engine doesn’t touch the wheels at all and works purely as a generator, while electric motors do the driving. The Chinese version gets a 60.3 kWh battery, up to 221 km of electric range on the CLTC cycle, an 800-volt architecture and charging speeds of up to 350 kW.
Luxeed gives Chery an entirely different tech channel — the brand lives inside Huawei’s ecosystem alongside the S7 and R7 models and runs on its automotive electronics. Exeed, meanwhile, stays the group’s most conventional premium offshoot: as recently as this spring, Chery openly named Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz as its benchmarks.
Pushing back Exeed’s timeline shows Chery’s task now goes well beyond simply rolling out another logo. By 2028, the company needs to build three separate market positions, a dealer network and model lineups all at once — without leaning on CAOA. The company hasn’t spelled that out directly, but it’s exactly what the announced setup implies.
The next real test for this plan isn’t 2028 — it’s Chery International’s next official announcement on Brazil, which should show whether Exeed’s new timeline holds and which Freelander and Luxeed models make the opening lineup. For now, only the brands and the year are confirmed — no prices, no trims, no exact sales dates.
