Land Rover commits $1.4 million to go green, greeness coming by end of 2008

So Land Rover knows that it needs to do more to make its lineup more fuel-efficient and not become another GMC or HUMMER. There are already reports that Land Rover will offer its LRX crossover with a hybrid variant by 2012. Last week at the 2008 British International Motor Show, the now Tata Motors owned SUV brand showed a Freelander 2 prototype that it says is a real-world study of its new ground-breaking Diesel ERAD Hybrid vehicle technology.

But the automaker is also putting its money where its mouth is – and not just by giving us some concepts. Land Rover has committed to investing £700 million (close to $1.4 million USD) over the next 5-years towards environmentally advanced vehicles. Improvements to its lineup could come into play as soon as the end of this year.

Land Rover will start fitting its new start-stop technology to diesel Freelanders by then end of 2008, followed by rolling out the technology across the rest of its range. The start-stop technology alone is expected to cut off CO2 emissions from 194g/km to 179g/km.

Land Rover also plans on reducing the size and weight of its vehicles – along with better aerodynamics. It plans to have a production ready version of its Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) Hybrid system by 2010.

Source: AutoExpress