Range Rover’s new small SUV, due on sale next year, will be offered as a range of two and four-wheel drive models, Land Rover managing director Phil Popham told just-auto on Monday.
The new model, referred to as “Range Rover Compact” by Popham, will be Land Rover’s most efficient car with emissions that will “get into the 120s for CO2 g/km”.
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He added: “120g/km equates to about 50mpg, which is what we talked about when we launched the [LRX] concept. It will be better than the current Freelander with stop-start.”
The 120g/km figure will be achieved without the use of hybrid technology. However, a hybrid version will be revealed in 2012 and go on sale in 2013.
Popham refused to be drawn on pricing for the car, however the Range Rover Sport starts from GBP45,000 here in the UK, which would suggest the baby Rangey could start from £30,000, also the upper end of the Freelander range.
Five names for the new car are currently in the frame, according to our sources, but ‘compact’ is not one of them. The car’s name will be revealed on 1 July.
BMW has used the name ‘Compact’ to refer to two generations of entry-level, three-door 3-series hatchback (though the monicker never appeared on the car) and ‘compact’ usually refers to cars of roughly European C-segment size in the US.
Popham refused to be drawn on sales expectations for the new model but said: “There will be flexible production. We’re making sure we have up-side flexibility with our suppliers. We got caught out with Range Rover Sport, that won’t happen this time.
“I sincerely hope it will be the biggest selling Range Rover.”
