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No surprise: 5-door Land Rover LRX rumored
Britain's Autocar says that Land Rover will follow up the introduction of the production 3-door LRX with a more practical 5-door edition as well. We loved the compact and sporty LRX concept, and we're glad Land Rover is going to produce a 3-door that should closely mimic its appearance. That said, the word that it'll also be joined by a 5-door is completely unsurprising, as the additional entrances make the LRX a more appealing suburban recon vehicle. After all, it's a lot easier to haul the kids to ballet class and Little League when they have doors of their own to clamber in and out of. Autocar's sources also told the pub that a hybrid drivetrain -- a key element of the concept car -- is also expected to find its way into the mix, given current concerns regarding fuel economy and vehicle emissions. Look for the LRX to debut in 2011. If the production car winds up being anywhere near as good-looking as the concept, there should be no shortage of them in neighborhood garages and driveways shortly thereafter.
[Source: Autocar]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pluton 3:29PM (6/25/2008)
I will buy it if it can give 30 MPG
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Quan 7:02PM (6/25/2008)
Same here; the LRX is beautiful. I'd take a 3-door in black.
Mehul Kamdar 11:54AM (6/25/2008)
The 5 door LRX has everything to do with the needs of the home market of Land Rover's new owners. Not a bad thing at all in itself, but India's badly overcrowded roads and some very poor quality roads in some of the Indian countryside would help a 5 door LRX sell well over there.
If the vehicle has decent on and off road performance, it will sell very well over there.
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Avinash machado 12:01PM (6/25/2008)
How many Indians do you think can afford a Land Rover?
Snark 1:05PM (6/25/2008)
Plenty of Indians can afford a Land Rover. Sure, most of them are poor, but there is a substantial middle class. 2-3% of a billion people is still a pretty giant market - bigger than the US.
Eek 12:18PM (6/25/2008)
I love this thing. It's one of the few SUVs I would consider buying. Not because of the price of gas, just in general. I'm sure it will break the bank though, when it first comes out.
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Ian 12:30PM (6/25/2008)
Just what the world needs....
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MikeofLA 12:31PM (6/25/2008)
Give me a 3 door, make it light, nimble, fast, efficient and black. It's like what a BMW X4 might be like.
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1337 2:29PM (6/25/2008)
If you want a light, nimble, fast, efficient 3 door, Land Rover shouldn't be at the top of you shopping list. Find yourself a Honda Fit or a Volkswagen GTI. Both of them come in black.
1337 2:30PM (6/25/2008)
Whoops, there isn't a 3-door Fit... Still, it's light, fast, nimble, and efficient. And for the price of a Land Rover LR3, you could buy 4 or 5 Fits.
mk 12:54PM (6/25/2008)
Isn't that what a Freelander/LR3 already is? With a design re-fresh, as it were.
I thought the LRX thing as a sleek version of the Freelander/LR3, with three doors instead of five.
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1337 3:48PM (6/25/2008)
The awesomeness of owning a Land Rover? Are you referring to the ridiculously expensive replacement parts? Or do you mean the amount of time the Rover spends in the shop?
British_Rover 5:05PM (6/25/2008)
You mean Freelander 2/LR2 not Freelander/LR3. The LR3 is a completely different vehicle then the LR2. The LRX was built on the LR2/Freelander 2 platform but using completely different materials both inside and out. The LR2 has very little aluminum in it when compared to other Land Rover and no composites. The LRX is full of composites, aluminum and unique recycled materials plus it has a very unique interior/exterior styling.
Land Rover will be able to sell the LRX for a good bit more then they can sell the LR2s for but it won't cost them that much more to make it. By using the same platform as the LR2 they are saving a ton of money on platform development costs.
Think of it like Mercedes and the E-Class W211 platform. Mercedes uses that platform to build the E-Class and its various versions but also uses a slightly modified version to build the CLS. They charge a lot more money for the CLS but it doesn't cost them much more to make then a top spec E550.
Land Rover doesn't have much platform sharing going on because they don't have very many models and that hurts their profitability. Right now they are using four platforms for five models if you count the Defender. By 2011 if they can get the LRX three and five doors out based on the LR2 platform then they can get seven models out of those same four platforms.
The Defender could by that time be on the current T5 platform that the RRS/Disco3/LR3 use so that would be even better by getting seven models on four platforms.
British_Rover 5:07PM (6/25/2008)
You mean Freelander 2/LR2 not Freelander/LR3. The LR3 is a completely different vehicle then the LR2. The LRX was built on the LR2/Freelander 2 platform but using completely different materials both inside and out. The LR2 has very little aluminum in it when compared to other Land Rover and no composites. The LRX is full of composites, aluminum and unique recycled materials plus it has a very unique interior/exterior styling.
Land Rover will be able to sell the LRX for a good bit more then they can sell the LR2s for but it won't cost them that much more to make it. By using the same platform as the LR2 they are saving a ton of money on platform development costs.
Think of it like Mercedes and the E-Class W211 platform. Mercedes uses that platform to build the E-Class and its various versions but also uses a slightly modified version to build the CLS. They charge a lot more money for the CLS but it doesn't cost them much more to make then a top spec E550.
Land Rover doesn't have much platform sharing going on because they don't have very many models and that hurts their profitability. Right now they are using four platforms for five models if you count the Defender. By 2011 if they can get the LRX three and five doors out based on the LR2 platform then they can get seven models out of those same four platforms.
The Defender could by that time be on the current T5 platform that the RRS/Disco3/LR3 use so that would be even better by getting seven models on four platforms.
mk 12:32AM (6/26/2008)
Perhaps you are right...
I was thinking that the Disco became the LR2, and the Freelander became the LR3, but evidently I was thinking of hummer, where higher numbers get smaller in terms of vehicle size.
The big question is, what will be the big difference between an LRX 5-door SUV and an LR2 5-door SUV, or will the LRX be the new name for the LR2.
Land Rover can't just slap a new name, very slightly different bodywork, with no functional difference, and say they have a new model.
The CLS had much different bodywork, and seated one less person practically in the back seat. I don't really like the CLS, though, anyway, and is uglier than the E-series.
Either they have to differentiate LRX from LR2 demonstrably, to have two different models, or LRX succeeds LR2.
MikeofLA 3:46PM (6/25/2008)
I think you miss the point or a Land Rover. I want all the "feel goods" of an efficient vehicle with the awesomeness of owning a Land Rover.
British_Rover 5:07PM (6/25/2008)
OOpps double post there.
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