According to sources, Land Rover has confirmed that the Land Rover LRX Concept that debuted at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January has been approved for production as the 2011MY Range Rover. Built on the same platform as the Freelander, the Range Rover LRX would sit beneath the Range Rover Sport as the smallest, most compact model in the Range Rover family. Although the 2011 Ranger Rover LRX will feature 5 doors (as opposed to the Concept’s 2) and a slightly revised front bumper, the basic design elements of the LRX Concept will remain unchanged in the production version.

In keeping with the Range Rover’s smaller, less-obtrusive theme, Land Rover Managing Director Phil Popham claims the 2011 Range Rover will be Land Rover’s “greenest” vehicle to date. At launch, Popham says the new Range Rover will produce under 150 g/km of CO2 emissions, which in terms of fuel-efficiency roughly translates to about 50 mpg. As research and development continues, Popham also hinted that a hybrid Range Rover could debut as well, cutting emissions even further to 120 g/km and boosting fuel consumption to around 60 mpg.

With all of the performance and mechanical updates to the 2010 Range Rover Sport, you might anticipate that Land Rover is re-energizing themselves by returning to their off-roading, go-anywhere roots. You’d be wrong. While built well, off-road capable, and with a huge amount of new engineering clearly on display, little of its expensive high-tech trappings are meant to make the Range Rover Sport any better off of hard pavement.

It would be pretty easy to blame all of Land Rover’s ills merely on either the economic collapse of the entire industry or the steep decline in SUV sales segment-wide. Of course, if that were the case, than Jeep would be one of the weakest brands instead of one of the strongest. More realistically, they have only themselves to blame for their troubles. A comparison with Jeep illustrates Land Rover’s most prominent mistake. After building one of the strongest reputations on go-anywhere, do-anything capabilities, Land Rover began focusing almost exclusively on becoming a luxury brand, opening themselves up to big losses when money was tight with consumers.

While Land Rover has had high hopes that the LR3 would help make amends for this misdirection, they have only been partially successful.

Scion tC: One Of 25 Winners

A study by automotive consulting company AutoPacific turns out some interesting results about TRUE customer satisfaction. It is one thing to say that a new car performs satisfactorily for your own use, but according to the results of this survey, a vehicle has to perform in all sorts of other ways for a customer to feel comfortable recommending the car to their friends.

It makes sense. If you are going to recommend a car to a friend, you’d better REALLY like it. There aren’t many ways that would be more effective in turning a friendship sour than someone close to you resenting your automotive input into their new car. The top vote-getters in 25 categories are listed below.

Land Rover LRX Concept

The revitalization of Britain’s two most storied automakers by Indian-owned Tata Motors can not begin soon enough. Following news last month that the companies had lost a combined $501.5 million, it is not surprising that now they have announced that 300 jobs and production of the X-Type will be cut. Can the LRX stop the bleeding?

2009 Jeep Liberty

The Jeep Cherokee had, and still has, such a loyal following, that following its replacement with the Liberty in 2001, Jeep lost alot of respect among off-road lovers. It wasn’t that the original liberty was a bad vehicle in comparison to say, the Honda CR-V; it was that it was such a significant departure away from the toughness that Jeep had fostered for over half a century. The newest Liberty is a step back towards its roots in both style and performance, but is it enough? Or is the 2009 Liberty more Compass than Cherokee?

Tata Execs Force Smiles Amid Financial Downturn

Give Ford credit, their timing in unloading Jaguar and Land Rover could not have been better. Despite dwindling sales and the dark looming clouds of factories being shuttered, Tata Motors has finally introduced its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing automobile markets. Unfortunately, saddled with the two of the biggest money drains in the auto world, Tata is reporting an annual loss for the first time in eight years. How much have Jaguar and Land Rover cost Tata?

Since 1948, the Land Rover Defender has been the stalwart off-roader of the discriminating adventurer. Rugged and simple in functionality, its ladder frame chassis and aluminum body has spawned multiple variants including ambulances, military vehicles and even fire engines. The only thing that sucks about the Defender? You guessed it, not available in the United States. But it was once.

Chinese Geely GT

Ten years after Ford acquired Volvo, it is being reported that a possible sale to either China’s biggest privately owned carmarker, Geely Holding Group Co., or two other potential bidders is picking up momentum.  For all of Ford’s recent success in light of the economic downturn, the automaker appears to be willing to sell the Swedish subsidiary for less than a third of what it paid a decade ago.   

Jaguar Suffering From Lagging Sales

Similar to the govenment assistance of American automakers, the British government is in negotiations with Tata Motors and the two-headed monster that is luxury carmaker Jaguar/Land Rover.  However, much like here in the U.S., it is rough going for the automakers in completing a deal that would guarantee both short- and long-term financing.