Land Rover has confirmed that a grant of £27 million has been offered by the UK government to put a new model into production. The car would be based on the Land Rover LRX concept revealed in Detroit last year. Although the deal has not been finalised, the offer is from a separate source of funding to the automotive industry support package currently under discussion.

The LRX model would be part of the Range Rover line-up, making it the 'smallest, lightest and most efficient Range Rover ever built'. The company is confident that it can deliver the appropriate levels of quality and drivability in a more compact package.

Although no technical details have been released it is likely that the LRX will be built on the same platform as the Freelander. There is mention of 'new powertrain options' as part of Land Rover's e-terrain technologies designed to reduce CO₂ emissions. Some sources believe this is confirmation that work is underway on a hybrid drive system.

The new model would be built at Jaguar Land Rover's Halewood factory where the Jaguar X-Type and Land Rover Freelander 2 are assembled. The final decision on the project will be taken later this year.

John Lambert - 12 Mar 2009