New 7-seater Land Rover L486 coming soon!

Land Rover will be adding a new 7-seater model to its product line-up in 2012, Autocar UK revealed today. The new 7-seater is known internally as the L486, and will be based on the Freelander platform (L359).

The Land Rover Freelander is based on Ford’s EUCD platform. The EUCD platform also underpins vehicles such as the 7-seater Ford S-MAX, so it should be no issue to stretch the Freelander’s 2,659mm wheelbase to somewhere over 2,800mm to accomodate the additional row of seats and maintain luggage space.

The new 7-seater Land Rover L486 will be more road-oriented rather than an off-roading vehicle, providing customers with the choice of a people carrier combined with rugged and desirable Land Rover styling. Powertrain and all-wheel drive systems will likely be carried over from the L359 Freelander, which features a front wheel drive biased system, sending torque to the rear wheels only when there is slipping.