Land Rover : New LRX-based Range Rover confirmed for production

The Range Rover-badged production version of the LRX Concept may look like this...
The Range Rover-badged production version of the LRX Concept may look like this...

Land Rover has confirmed today that a production version of its exciting LRX concept car will be built.  The new car will debut next year and join the Range Rover line-up in 2011.

Designed and engineered at Land Rover’s state of the art Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.

The new car will be built at the multi award-winning plant in Halewood, on Merseyside, subject to quality and productivity agreements and will be sold in over 100 countries around the world.

Phil Popham, Managing Director of Land Rover said: “The production of a small Range Rover model is excellent news for our employees, dealers and customers. It is a demonstration of our commitment to investing for the future, to continue to deliver relevant vehicles for our customers, with the outstanding breadth of capability for which we are world-renowned.”

“Feedback from our customer research also fully supports our belief that a production version of the LRX Concept would further raise the desirability of our brand and absolutely meet their expectations.” Phil added.

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s  Design Director said: “The new vehicle will be a natural extension to the Range Rover line-up, complementing the existing models and helping to define a new segment. It will be true to the concept and have many recognisable Range Rover design cues including the signature clamshell bonnet, the floating roof and the solid ‘wheel-at-each-corner’ stance.”

More details of the new small Range Rover will be released next year.

Clive Goldthorp

11 Comments

  1. It’s a shame that one of the production facilities will be closed but, never mind, the Government will probably give Tata Motors a grant to help them with the closure – funded, of course, by the British taxpayer! That would just be another Government nail in British manufacturing’s coffin or, perhaps more accurately, a subsidy for Indian manufacturing.

  2. @Ayd
    Wafer Rover – Mars Rover – Rover Vitesse – Rover Lite – Chick Rover – Rover NW (naughty weekend!) but I really wouldn’t call it a Range Rover when it doesn’t really cover the Range. Range Rover presumbly meant it could be used for anything (family, ranch, farm, town etc) but this car clearly just fills a void and can’t do everything.

  3. Further to my point, the Freelander is probably more entitled to use the Range Rover name especially when the word “Freelander” is a bit of an odd botch of words and fairly meaningless.

    Perhaps they should just stick with LRX. The LRX is really only part of the Range Rover. BTW the hybrid drivetrain and light weight are the main points of this car and not so much its ability to do anything much off-road.

  4. Fantastic, just fantastic, another ugly lifestyle SUV for smug self-satisfied egotists to aspire to and buy.

  5. @Cameron MacAulay

    What a nasty little post – I accept everyone has a right to an opinion on the car but the comment on the potential buyers is not acceptable.

    I personally like the LRX and hope it is a great success.

  6. I like it and, with a bit of luck (though I don’t think it needs much luck – it looks fantastic), JLR will sell that many they will need all the factory space they can get their hands on and keep open the plants ear-marked for closure.

    P. S.: I saw the new XJ on trade plates driving down the M40 this week – don’t worry it does look really good in the metal! Move over BMW, Mercedes etc!!!!

  7. I’m intrigued by the LRX. I’d like to see a picture of it with something alongside for a sense of scale. It’s described as the smallest in the range but, to my eyes in the image here, it looks on a par with a Landcruiser

  8. It looks fantastic – and to be sold in over 100 countries worldwide? It’s good to know that Britain can still produce a world-class car.

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