Land Rover has confirmed today that a production version of its stylish LRX concept car will be built. The new model will debut next year and join the Range Rover lineup in 2011.
Designed and engineered at the company’s Gaydon facility in the UK, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.
Previous reports have suggested that it could be revealed in production trim as early as the middle of next year--June 17 2010 to be exact. Why the specific date? Because this marks 40 years to the day since the original Range Rover was first revealed to the public, and since the production LRX will be badged as a Range Rover it is entirely possible that this is when it will be revealed.
Earlier this week, the first test-mules for the LRX were spotted testing at Germany's Nurburgring. Click here to see the images.
The original LRX concepts (there were a pair of black and white versions) was first revealed at last year’s Detroit Auto Show and featured a new 2.0-liter diesel-hybrid powertrain, which when running on bio-diesel achieves a fuel-economy of 60 mpg. Expect to see some version of this eventually feature in the production version of the LRX. Other elements of the concept vehicle that could make production include carbon-fiber panels to save weight and engine stop-start systems to further reduce fuel consumption.
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