Land Rover reportedly puts plans for seven-seat LR2 on ice
2009 Land Rover LR2 HSE – Click above for high-res image gallery
The Land Rover LR2 looks nice enough and it has some offroad chops, but during our time with the British SUV we weren't exactly thrilled with its on-road capabilities. We're not so sure an extra row of seating would have helped the baby Rover's disposition, but if a news item from Autocar is to be believed, we may not know of a long time. The U.K. publication is reporting that Land Rover has postponed plans to produce a seven-seat Freelander/LR2 in order to concentrate on a new business plan that ups annual sales to 200,000 units. The seven-seat LR2 had been rumored since the smallest Land Rover hit the streets, and Autocar says the more passenger friendly LR2 was set to go to production by next year.
The new plan will reportedly be to shift the remaining attention to the production of the two-door LRX, which is expected to enter production in 2011. The LRX is expected to provide some of the volume Land Rover owner Tata Motors is looking for, while giving the British luxury off-road automaker a smaller, lighter, more efficient offering for the motoring masses.
Gallery: Review: 2009 Land Rover LR2 HSE
Photos copyright ©2009 Chris Paukert / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
phatality 3:08PM (10/05/2009)
LR would probably be able to increase sales simply by selling the Defender here in the US for a reasonable price.
Unfortunately, it probably doesn't meet DOT standards in current form.
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Jared 3:42PM (10/05/2009)
The Defender doesn't meet US crash safety standards.
LDMAN 3:45PM (10/05/2009)
No, it did not back in the late 90s and it does not know. No airbags, crumple zone, etc.. Problem is also that no petrol/automatic engine is available for current Defender (strangely the last petrol engine was a .....BMW 2.8 inline-6 cylinders). Diesel sounds romantic but once you have driven and 2.4 or 2.5 liter /122 bhp Defender for a couple of days you will soon find it dangerously slow. Defender are also very expensive given the actual exchange rate and the average US driver won't fit comfortably into them (you better be skinny and short). The term ergonomics was not invented when Defenders or Series III were on the drawing board (look up "Defender Elbow").
However, there are few better vehicles designed for the purpose of going off road and taking abuse. I love the old Dog but barring a few hardcore off-road freaks, Defender as we know it in Europe is a bad idea for the US. Tata does not have the cash to modernize and will probably kill it off by 2012. It is cheaper to just use the T5 platform and get economies of scale.
Now going back to the topic 7 seater Freelander was a bad idea. If you need to carry 7 people and can afford a Land Rover then just buy an LR4
Sofa King Fast! 3:42PM (10/05/2009)
What is with 7 seaters?
I don't get why every manufacturer all of a sudden needs to be able to fit 7 people in a car. Last time I checked, people aren't having 5 kids these days.
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Matt Degen 4:28PM (10/05/2009)
I hope the LR2 remains a 5-seater, and the Touareg for that matter, too. Not all of us want/need all those seats. I'd just end up taking them out, anyway. Then again, maybe they'd make for good TV seats in the garage...
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hoov23 8:30PM (10/05/2009)
We have an LR2 and love it. There's no room for 7 seats though, no matter how you slice it. There is actually barely room for 5 adults, and that's not a complaint - that's why we got it. Great vehicle all around in my opinion, nothing like it's big brothers.
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Chris 9:42AM (10/06/2009)
I have the LR2 as well, 7 seats makes no sense in the current layout, no room.
The LR2 is fantastic on road and off, very happy with it so far.
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