MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK government support for Land Rover to build new vehicle

Land Rover LRX Concept

The British government has offered a grant of up to £27 million to motor giant Land Rover to build a new vehicle. The company will make a decision later this year on whether to go ahead with the £400 million project at its factory at Halewood on Merseyside.

The car will be based on Land Rover's LRX Concept vehicle, first shown at the Detroit Show last year, and would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient it has ever produced.

Phil Popham, managing director of Land Rover, 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.”

“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,” he continued.

“Feedback from the most extensive customer research we have ever undertaken also fully supports our belief that a production version of the LRX concept would further raise the desirability of our brand and absolutely meets all those expectations.

”The compact size, lighter weight and sustainability-focused technologies of the LRX Concept showed how Land Rover is planning to respond to the needs of a changing world. Despite the current economic challenges, we remain committed 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.

“Both the design and size of the LRX concept have generated a hugely positive reaction wherever it has been seen and we've also gathered fresh insights on what potential owners would look for in a production equivalent. That knowledge is now being applied to the process of refining the vehicle as it heads towards final approval.”

Around 2,000 workers are employed at Halewood, which currently produces the Land Rover Freelander 2 and Jaguar X-Type.

The Government said the aid would be taken from the Grant for Business Investment scheme, which is separate from the £2.3 billion Automotive Assistance Programme being discussed at a Government seminar for manufacturers and supply chain companies.