The baby Rangie, the LRX, has been out on test in the Midlands this week. Our spy photographer snapped this cut-and-shut and generally chopped about Freelander near Land Rover’s Gaydon HQ.
These new spy photos give an interesting view of the dimensions of the LRX – it’ll be a short, squat bulldog of a 4×4, judging by its stance in these scoop pictures.
Please don’t say the LRX is going to look like a baby Freelander!
Fret not. Land Rover design types promise they’re going to try and retain plenty of the LRX concept’s cheeky chunky looks, shrunken down to a RAV4 size footprint.
Of course, Land Rover has previous here; they made a similar promise about the Range Stormer which begat the rather too-watered-down Range Rover Sport. But this time word is they’re keeping more of the LRX show car pizzazz for production.
Range Rover LRX: the timeline
We won’t see finished car for a while yet. It’s slated for a 2011 production slot (it’ll be built at Halewood in the north west of England, pending any dramatic U-turn as Jaguar Land Rover has pledged to streamline its excess capacity).
That means we should see the finished car in late 2010. Next year is a big year for Range Rover, as it celebrates the brand’s 40th anniversary. Showing the LRX at the end of the year could be the perfect way to show that big SUVs still have a future in the next decade.