Land Rover Landie teaser

By Tim Pollard

Motor Shows

11 September 2007 11:24

Land Rover Landie: the lowdown

Land Rover flashed up this tantalising glimpse of the Landie at the Frankfurt Motor Show today, confirming the long-rumoured lower-priced SUV to slot beneath the Freelander. Cynics might accuse the company of distracting show-goers from the fact that there was nothing especially new on its stand. It seems that Land Rover – currently up for sale alongside sister firm Jag with a sale expected this autumn - is repeating its strategy with the Range Stormer concept. Execs flashed up a silhouetted image of that car at an autumn motor show before revealing the real concept car at the Detroit show. So we’ll have to wait a few more months yet to see the real concept car. However, we do know the Landie concept is designed to slot sub-Freelander. There is ample room beneath Freelander, as that car has grown substantially in its latest iteration, leaving space for a cheaper, sub-£20k off-roader that’s stripped out of the priciest content but that’s still true to Land Rover’s 4x4 heritage. Managing director Phil Popham also confirmed that Land Rover would launch its first stop-start systems in 2009. They will appear on manual TD4 versions of the Freelander, slicing emissions by 7 percent from 194g/km to 179g/km. Great news, but you can’t help wandering why it’s taking so long to bring this technology to market when Mini – another British brand building around 200,000 cars a year – has just fitted it across its entire range.

By Tim Pollard