Land Rover has now officially confirmed that it will build an SUV based on the LRX Concept, which debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2008. The new model will debut in 2010 as a 2011 model and rumors have suggested it will arrive on June 17th, the 40th anniversary of the original Range Rover.

Land Rover is keeping quiet about any details but has said that the new model will be, “the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.” It is expected that a hybrid drivetrain will be offered.

“The production of a small Range Rover model is excellent news for our employees, dealers and customers,” said Phil Popham, managing director of Land Rover. “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.”

Official release after the jump:

SMALL RANGE ROVER CONFIRMED FOR PRODUCTION

Gaydon, Warwickshire, 24 September 2009 – 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 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.

Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motorsw says it will close either a Jaguar or Land Rover factory in England by 2014. The decision as to which of the company’s three U.K. plants will be shuddered has not yet been made, but Tata has said which two are on the chopping block.

The first candidate is the Jaguar facility in Castle Bromwich and the second is a Land Rover facility in Solihull. The plan is to consolidate the two facilities over the next five years, with a decision being made in the next 12 to 18 months. Currently JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) employs 5,000 staff in Solihull, 2,000 in Castle Bromwich and 1,800 at the Halewood plant (pictured above) in northwestern England. There is no word on how many jobs will be cut, but Tata did say that800 additional jobs will be created in Halewood when production starts on a new small crossover based on the LRX Concept.

JLR suffered considerable losses during the recent economic downturn, with reduced demand meaning that JLR production facilities were only working at 60 percent capacity. So far, in order to meet the decreased demand the automaker has cut production by over 100,000 units while cutting 25,000 jobs.

[Source: Automotive News]

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Land Rover’s smaller, fuel-efficient SUV model based on the LRX Concept, is expected to debut next year as a 2011 model. Several drivetrains will be offered including a hybrid powerplant – a first for Land Rover.

The date for the unveiling is expected to be June 17th, which will mark 40 years since the original Range Rover was unveiled. With a focus on fuel-economy, the new model will help brand a new identity for the company which is known so well for huge engines and incredibly heavy platforms.

The LRX will be based on the Freelander with a hybrid version most likely using an electrically driven rear axle to assist a front-drive gasoline engine, to deliver grip and performance, as well as fuel-economy.

[Source: AutoCar]

Land Rover recently secured a $38 million grant from the U.K government to investigate building an environmentally responsible vehicle, likely to be based on the LRX Concept that debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2008. And according to a recent report in the U.K.’s AutoExpress, Land Rover has given the project the green light.

The upcoming smaller SUV will be a sporty model and feature a full hybrid powertrain, meaning it will be able to run on electric power, gasoline power, or a combination of both. Electric power may even be able to be split between axles, and distributed to either side of the SUV in order to obtain maximum grip.

The vehicle is still at least two years away from being introduced to the market, but other hybrid-like technologies are expected to make their way into Land Rover models before then. For starters, Land Rover is currently developing a start-stop system that will shut off the engine when at a stop light or in traffic. A regenerative braking system is also in the works, that would see energy from braking stored in a battery and then either used to power on-board electronics or even be used to help power the SUV.

[Source: AutoExpress]