Despite how well received the Land Rover LRX concept was when it debuted at last year's Detroit auto show, the company still hasn't decided whether or not to build it. Now, the UK government has stepped in and offered Land Rover a £27 million (around $37.2 million) grant to build a new vehicle that the company will base on the LRX.
Land Rover says the project will cost £400 million (around $551.5 million). It must go through a number of approval gateways in the product development process before getting the final go-ahead. Phil Popham, Managing Director, said "We welcome the Government's support for this project, which would form a key part of our future product plans and which we very much want to put into production."
The new vehicle would be an addition to the Range Rover family of vehicles. According to Popham, "Our engineering feasibility study has shown that we can very successfully deliver Range Rover levels of quality, drivability and breadth of performance in a more compact, more sustainable, package."
A final decision will be announced by the end of the year. The company will make the announcement at its Halewood plant where the little Land Rover would be built next to the company's current smallest vehicle, the LR2.