Wee Landie will be built

Land Rover's second only ever concept car, the LRX wowed Detroit and will be built, insiders say.

The LRX concept was previewed in a video presentation at the Frankfurt Motor Show late last year. However, the premium offroad marque chose Detroit's North American International Auto Show to unveil the muscular offroad coupe.

Land Rover's first-ever concept, the Range Stormer, was also unveiled at NAIAS in 2004. Also a two door, in fact the Stormer was 'reverse engineered' from the already completed Range Rover Sport production car, company heads have since admitted. That's not the case for the LRX.

But insiders say that pending the sale of the brand by Ford (Indian conglomerate Tata is the expected buyer of Land Rover and sister marque, Jaguar -- more here) the car will be built. And the final product will be true to the concept.

"Make no mistake, we have every intention to build the car," a high-paced Land Rover identity told the Carsales Network. "And it won't be watered down."

Smaller than the Freelander (the concept is 149mm shorter and a full 205mm lower), the LRX could be built on the same platform as the Ford Kuga (more here). Land Rover does say however, that the LRX was developed entirely in-house. Insiders also promise "proper offroad ability."

"LRX has unmistakable Land Rover design and the breadth of capability that you'd expect from our vehicles", said Phil Popham, Land Rover's Managing Director.

"But it carries those essentials into a segment where the brand has never been before, and with a proposed level of efficiency that would make it one of the cleanest vehicles in its class.

"It is Land Rover's way of affirming the brand's responsible approach to future product development.

"At this stage, LRX is purely a concept, designed to help us develop our thinking as well as gauge customer reaction -- but this feels like a hugely exciting direction to take."

To capture the essence of the brand's premium models, the company's design team under Gerry McGovern used iconic Land Rover styling cues including the clamshell bonnet, perforated grille and quarter panel side vents.

For NAIAS, the LRX was presented as a diesel hybrid SUV -- its turbodiesel engine displacing 2.0 litres and capable of meeting a CO2 emissions target of just 120g/km.

Land Rover's hybrid drive uses Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) to provide additional torque offroad, but also operating in isolation during slow commutes on-road. ERAD is linked to ISG (Integrated Starter-Generator), which can power down the internal combustion engine and re-start as required.

Power for the ERAD is stored in a lithium-ion battery pack, which recovers lost energy through regenerative braking as well as from the ISG.

As with production Land Rovers, LRX is fitted with Hill Descent Control and Terrain Response. Terrain Response operates in five modes in the LRX application. Those include a new 'Eco' mode, which is mostly intended for on-road use. The other four modes are 'sports' -- another new mode for the system -- 'general driving', 'sand' and 'grass/gravel/snow'.

Maintaining the environmentally sustainable theme inside the concept, the leather is vegetable-tanned and aluminium is applied extensively throughout. The vanilla-coloured suede-like material used to upholster the door inserts and headlining is produced from recycled plastic bottles and fibres.

Just in case you missed the point, here's Phil Popham again: "No single technology delivers all the answers to whole-life sustainability, but the LRX concept brings together some of the ideas for the future that interest us, integrating them into a car that we believe represents an exciting way forward for Land Rover."

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