New Concepts: Land Rover LRXBefore the unveiling of Land Rover's second ever concept car, Gerry McGovern, the company's director of design, had said little about it. After the sheets were pulled back on the Land Rover LRX, he said even less, letting the design do the talking.
The LRX is a bold new move for Land Rover, into a new direction and it looks likely that there will be a production model.
The LRX is significantly smaller than the Freelander 2, though built on the same platform, and it will be a bridge between the "Landie" and "Rangie" themes. More "premiumness", as McGovern says.
It will be lifting up the positioning of the 60-year-old brand and targeting a whole new customer base - the wealthy urbans who want something with a smaller footprint, but without losing the essential Land Rover ethos of capability and adventure.
The LRX is likely to be promoting Land Rover's first crossover vehicle. It will be a sporty AWD cruiser for four, flying the flag of sustainability in powertrains, materials and recycling. McGovern wouldn't talk powertrains at the sneak show - that's a story for Detroit. However, it's going to be interesting, because shoving a 4.4-litre V8 into this one won't make a lot of sense in environmental perception terms.
We can speculate on the 2.2-diesel already working well in Freelander 2, or maybe even the 2.7-litre V6 from the Discovery.
However, there are whispers that the car will be so innovative in weight terms that even smaller displacement engines could be used without compromising performance. And there will certainly be hybrid elements involved.
The LRX is dramatic looking, and novel, but it retains all the key styling cues that make up the Land Rover DNA. If a production model comes out, the concept shows clearly the styling directions in which future range will be heading.
McGovern said he thinks the design should speak for itself and it did. Just one phrase came to mind: "Twenty-second century."