Updated
Remember the Land Rover LRX compact crossover coupe concept from the 2008 Detroit Auto Show? Yeah, the highly styled two-door with 20-inch wheels that gave the impression that anything more rugged than a flat dirt road might be a problem.
Well, sources indicate that Land Rover's LRX coupe has moved from concept to production certainty, reportedly due for a public debut June 17, 2010 (Land Rover's 40-year anniversary). The first LRX test mule has hit the test circuit, popping up on the Nurburgring this morning for our first-ever sighting.
Although based on the Land Rover LR2, the production version of the LRX is expected to join the Range Rover lineup. This has led to speculation that the end result may be a more upright 5-door configuration instead of the sleek 3-door coupe, although this remains unconfirmed.
This first prototype, which shares the LR2's wheelbase, displays a truncated rear-quarter, with a shorter distance between the C- and D-pillars. The repackaged rear-end suggests that some element of the LRX's coupe-like roof line slope will still be a part of the final model's design. Don't get too hung up on the LR2 body panels you see on this test mule; they're being used largely as camouflage here and the production LRX should look much different (and mostly likely, much more like the concept).
This newest addition to the Range Rover line is expected to start production in early 2011.
There's another photo after the jump.
2008 Detroit Auto Show: Land Rover LRX concept
atenza94546 says:
10:14 AM, 09/21/09
Land Rover LR2 need a V6 instead of inline 6. Other than that most Land Rover and Range Rover looks good.
british_rover says:
11:04 AM, 09/21/09
Except Land Rover celebrated their 60th anniversary in April of 2009.
http://www.landrover.co.uk/gb/en/about-us/heritage/heritage.htm
Unless you mean Range Rover's 40th anniversary which would make more sense as the first production Range Rover came out in 1970.
subaru123 says:
12:31 PM, 09/21/09
It's an LR2 currently without a rear wiper and painted in Stealth Black. It's just a new name like how the LR3 is now the LR4
dnoodles says:
01:10 PM, 09/21/09
if this is a production version of the lrx then landrover has some serious explaining to do. namely, how do you figure that this design looks even remotely, distantly like the lrx concept? if this vehicle in anyway represents a realized lrx, then i can only imagine that the representation exists entirely under the hood (and maybe the suspension), and nowhere else. if that were the case, however, then the camo would be moot. i agree with subaru123, this is just a masked refresh/redesign of the lr2. landrover may have announced production of it's lrx coupe concept, but if this is actually it, then i'm at a loss as to why landrover wasted their, and our time creating the original lrx concept.
eriches says:
01:39 PM, 09/21/09
@dnoodles, subaru123: My text was obviously unclear. The body work on this prototype is definitely not the final body work -- the LR2 body panels are basically being used as camouflage here. Production vehicle will look much different. I'll update the post. -E. Riches
the_car_master says:
08:46 PM, 11/ 5/09
wow it's changed!!!!!!! I wonder how much it will be!
joker213 says:
04:38 PM, 01/20/10
it just looks ugly