Stop-Start Freelander on the way

Land Rover has announced that it will be introducing stop-start technology on its Freelander range from May 2009, thus saving around 8% on the Co2 emissions, and taking the Freelander down a group on VED, which should help move a few more Freelanders off forecourts next year. The technology for the stop-start was developed in-house, with a new engine management system coming from Bosch and an uprated starter from Denso. The stop-start option will be available on the 2.2 TD4, which accounts for nearly half of UK sales.

2015 Land Rover Defender to be built in India

2015 Land Rover Defender - made in India It’s reported that the 2015 Land Rover Defender will, as Cars UK predicted, be built in India with CKDs coming back to the UK. Land Rover has been busy previewing the 2015 Defender at the last few motor shows, both as a replacement for the current Defender and as a lifestyle Defender in the guise of the DC 100 Sport. And now we hear, when the 2015 Land Rover Defender arrives, it will be built in India.

Mini Vision concept: what does it say about the brand's future?

The sight of Mini design head Anders Warming presenting a holographic, 3D projection of the Mini Vision concept as if appearing in his own cartoon was certainly a new one on us, but it captured the quirky, slightly left-field image the subsidiary of BMW Group has cultivated since its relaunch 13 years ago. As the 'Vision' tag suggests, this is billed as a marker of intent for the brand's future design direction rather than a pre-production teaser of the new Mini hatchback (Cooper in most markets) we'll see later this year. However if the third-generation 'new' Mini doesn't look remarkably similar we'd be amazed, such is the level of productionized detailing on this purely digital model.