Green Car Advisor
Land Rover
September 24, 2009
Land Rover announced today that a production version of its Range Rover LRX Concept SUV (pictured) will be built, with sales to begin in 2011.
Designed and engineered at Land Rover's Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most fuel-efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.
The three-door SUV will be built in Halewood, near Liverpool, England, subject to quality and productivity agreements, and will be sold in more than 100 countries around the world, the company said in a statement.
In an interview with Edmunds.com's Michelle Krebs this morning, Jaguar Land Rover spokesman Stuart Schorr said the LRX will be the first of four new segment offerings from the company, with Jaguar and Land Rover to receive two each.
He stressed the four will be premium brands, meaning they won't come cheap. Schorr also said that Jaguar Land Rover is committed to hybrids and electrics, but he refused to provide further details.
The LRX Concept debuted at the Detroit Auto Show last year and featured a 2.0-liter diesel-hybrid powertrain, which when running on biodiesel achieved a claimed fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon.
Jaguar or Land Rover Plant to Close
In a related development, India's Tata Motors Ltd. said today it will close one of the three Jaguar Land Rover assembly plants in England by 2014 in a bid to move its money-losing British unit into profitability.
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- Scott Doggett September 24, 2009, 9:27 AM
- Categories:
- Auto Shows, Biofuels, Diesel, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Jaguar, Land Rover, Plug-ins and Electric, Range Rover
- Technorati Tags:
- Detroit Auto Show
, Electric Car, Ford Motor Co., Fuel Economy, Fuel-Efficient, Hybrid, Jaguar Land Rover, LXR, Tata Motors
August 26, 2009
The final production version of the Range Rover LRX could be unveiled June 17, and will likely be offered with a hybrid drivetrain, the British magazine Autocar reported today, citing unnamed Land Rover sources.
"The premium compact SUV will finally be given the go-ahead for production by the end of the year, insiders have told Autocar. Production would probably begin in early 2011," the magazine reported.
The June date is being considered because it will mark exactly 40 years since the original Range Rover was first revealed to the public.
The LRX would be positioned as the new, more environmentally friendly face of Range Rover as part of the brand's 40th anniversary.
It is expected that the styling of the final version of the LRX will differ from the concept, the magazine reported. The car will also have the option of a hybrid drivetrain, which could be standard on more expensive versions.
The LRX is based on the same basic transverse engine platform as the Freelander and will be built at that model's home, the Halewood factory on Merseyside.
The hybrid version of the LRX will probably use an electrically driven rear axle, which will work in combination with the engine-driven front wheels, Autocar reported.
The LRX will arrive at a time when most industry analysts expect new car buyers in western Europe to embrace the concept of downsizing, with upmarket vehicles in the Golf class (B segment) becoming particularly popular.
As part of this, sales of the largest SUVs are expected to be hit hard in the EU, although they will remain popular in the Middle East and other developing markets.
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- Scott Doggett August 26, 2009, 4:56 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Land Rover
- Technorati Tags:
- Hybrid
, Land Rover, Range Rover
June 16, 2009
The global economic crisis may force Jaguar to postpone production of its XE two-seat roadster beyond its hoped-for 2011 Geneva show debut, but the sports car will be fitted with a Chevy Volt-like powerplant when it does make an appearance.
That according to a report by Motor Trend, which says an electric motor with an extended-range three-cylinder gas engine is being engineered for the new-age E-Type.
Whether that powerplant would be in addition to Jaguar's conventional 5.0-liter and supercharged 5.0-liter V8s is unknown, as is whether the extended-range XE will make it beyond the concept stage.
Also unclear is whether the electric XE would be in addition to an extended-range electric XJ said to be scheduled for introduction in late 2011 (a year after the conventional XJ's release).
Ratan Tata, whose company bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company, is said to support the XE's development. His father once owned a Jaguar XK120, and Tata told Autocar earlier this year, "We need to emerge with something shiny and new, which is why we are reprioritizing the roadster right now."
In addition to the Volt, an extended-range electric XJ would likely give the Fisker Karma some competition.
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- Scott Doggett June 16, 2009, 1:19 PM
- Categories:
- Auto Shows, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fisker, Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Land Rover, Plug-ins and Electric, Tata
- Technorati Tags:
- Chevrolet Volt
, Fisker Karma Plug In Hybrid, Hybrid, Jaguar Roadster, Jaguar XE, Jaguar XJ, Land Rover
May 18, 2009
Auto Industry Lines Up To Praise National Program Idea, Now the Hard Work Begins
By
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
The auto industry, tired of being seen as the bad guy whenever fuel economy and emissions regulation is on the table, is wasting no time lining up in support of tomorrow's White House announcement on development of a national carbon emissions and fuel efficiency program.
A cynic might think this doesn't bode well for the ultimate result of the rulemaking process that President Obama will outline at a press conference in Washington Tuesday morning: That the auto industry figures it has enough clout left to wring the life out of any effort to significantly improve fuel economy.
But we think it simply shows that an industry on life support and dependent on government largess here and overseas has finally read the writing on the wall and realizes that this is as good as it is ever going to get and that if it doesn't play ball it will have no say in the rules it eventually will have to live by.
Automakers also have been caught in a trap of their own making. They've been fighting California, the national leader in establishing greenhouse gas controls on motor vehicles, insisting that individual states shouldn't be able to set carbon emissions rules and that a national standard is needed.
Now the Obama administration has stepped to the table and said, as the president is wont to: "Okay, let's develop a national rule."
To oppose that would be political suicide.
In that vein, the two lobbying groups representing almost every car maker that does business in the U.S. have jumped on board and are voicing support for the so-called National Program for Autos.
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- John O'Dell May 18, 2009, 6:00 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Chrysler, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Land Rover, Legislation, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opinion, Plug-ins and Electric, Porsche, Renault, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen
- Technorati Tags:
- National CAFE Plan
, National Program For Autos, Obama CAFE Plan
April 13, 2009
We know that the norm in the car world is for expensive new technologies to come out first on high-dollar models and then work their way down the food chain until they get into our price range, but we wish someone would work on an extended range plug-in hybrid that we could seriously consider for the personal fleet.
One thing we now know is that it's not going to come from India's Tata Motors, at least not right away.
Instead, Tata, which owns Jaguar and Land Rover, reportedly is planning to launch an extended-range hybrid version of the luxo-boat Jaguar XJ (above) in 2011, about a year after the next generation of the car comes out.
If the report is accurate, the XJ E-REV would likely compete with the $80,000 Fisker Karma extended-range electric sport sedan.
Britain's AutoCar magazine reports that the four-door, long-wheelbase Jag will use an all-electric drive system, with power coming first from a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack and then, when the charge is depleted, from power generated by a small internal combustion engine that will serve as a generator (can you say Chevy Volt?).
Jaguar is hoping for 30 miles of "pure" electric range before the gas engine/generator kicks in, and overall fuel economy of nearly 50 miles a gallon, with a top speed of 112 miles an hour (those are all U.S. figures, translated from the British).
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- John O'Dell April 13, 2009, 3:56 PM
- Categories:
- Jaguar, Land Rover, Plug-ins and Electric, Tata
- Technorati Tags:
- Jaguar
, Tata
March 23, 2009
Sometimes we feel mean on Mondays.
To satisfy today's need for nastiness, we bring you word of yet another fuel-efficient vehicle that's big enough to be a family hauler yet small enough to be practical and that we probably will never see on sale here.
It's the 2009 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4e, a turbodiesel SUV, due to hit the European market in May and rated at the U.S. equivalent of almost 35 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving (that'd be 42.2 miles per gallon on the European Union's combined cycle).
The Freelander TD4e does so well in part because it also incorporates an engine stop/start system (sometimes called a micro-hybrid in the U.S.) that works only with a manual transmission.
That's not ideal for an SUV with luxury pretensions, but is something that could change as Land Rover, formerly owned by Ford and now by India's Tata Motors, works on an automatic that can handle both the increased diesel torque and the unique demands of a diesel stop/start that will work without causing the Freelander to shake and shimmy like a wet dog wringing out its coat.
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- John O'Dell March 23, 2009, 2:17 PM
- Categories:
- Diesel, Land Rover
- Technorati Tags:
- Diesel
, Land Rover Freelander TD4e, Stop Start Technology
Land Rover announced today that a production version of its Range Rover LRX Concept SUV (pictured) will be built, with sales to begin in 2011. 
