For any product to excel in a country like India, a competitive pricing is very important. Indian buyers have a keen eye for products which are cost effective. In short it can be said that specs do not matter here as much as the price tag does. With the degrading value of Rupee, the Indian economy is not in the best of its shape. The car manufacturers in the country are therefore trying to lure the customers by showing them lower price tags. Recently Audi launched a lower priced version of its luxury SUV Audi Q3. This new variant has been named as the Q3 S and is offered at a price of Rs 24.44 lacs. Now, Land Rover has launched a lower priced model of its SUV – Freelander 2 and has been named as Freelander 2 S Business Edition.
The company had recently launched the face lifted version of the Freelander 2 in India. This car was launched with 2 variants namely SE and HSE. Now with the launch of the Freelander 2 S, a 3rd variant has been added to the Freelander 2 line up. This new S variant has been priced at Rs 37.63 lacs by the company which makes it around 3 lacs cheaper than the recently launched SE trim. In order to make the car cheaper the company has deleted several features from the Freelander 2.
The new Freelander 2 S Business Edition will continue to the carry the same 4 cylinder TD4 diesel engine with a capacity of 2.2 liters which is used in the SE trim of the SUV. This engine is capable of producing a max power of 150 PS at 4000 rpm and a maximum torque of 420 Nm. The car will continue to offer a 6 speed auto transmission. The top end variant of Freelander 2 called the HSE trim is equipped with an SD4 engine churning out a power of 190 PS at 3500 rpm. Several elements have been omitted from the car’s body to cut down on the price. This Business edition does not see the front puddle lamps, the sunroof as well as the rear view camera. Talking about the car’s interior, we do not get electrically adjustable front row seats and the arm rests on the front seats have also been deleted.
The face lifted Freelander carries a 7 inch high resolution touch screen along with a nav system. In the Freelander 2 S Business Edition this has been replaced by a 4.2 inch color display with 6 Land Rover Audio speakers. The other variants see Meridian speakers. This S variant will be available with only 4 body color options while the other variants come with 8 color options. The car will be using the standard Terrain responsive 4 wheel drive system. The Freelander 2 is the only Land Rover vehicle which is locally manufactured in India. The car is imported as CKD units and assembled at the company’s plant in Chikhali near Pune.