New compact Range Rover with 2WD option

Land Rover has announced that its new compact Range Rover will be offering a 2WD option, besides the 4WD version. Set to go on sale in 2011 the 2WD version should have CO2 emissions of less than 130 g/km, becoming the lightest and most fuel efficient Range Rover ever.

Thanks to an announced investment of 800 million pounds Jaguar Land Rover has been developing environmental technologies. The objective: to create vehicles that present sustainable features which respond to customer demand.

According to Phil Popham, Land Rover managing director, “Land Rover has announced that the all-new compact Range Rover will be available in 2WD. This is good news for the company and for our customers. A 2WD option is just one way in which we are developing our vehicles efficiency whilst adding to the Land Rover range and expanding our customer base. We will continue to make the ‘world’s finest all-terrain vehicles’ for those customers who require 4WD but will also now offer an alternative to those that don’t."

Thanks to the introduction of the 2WD Range Rover, Land Rover will focus on the reduction of weight of all its vehicles, the reduction of parasitic losses and on the increase of powertain efficiency. Land Rover will also be looking to further develop hybrid technology, especially for the larger vehicles of its lineup. The brand is planning to have the first diesel hybrid ready in 2012, launching it into the markets in the following year.

The first diesel hybrid prototype, called the ‘range_e’, is set to start testing until the end of 2010. This vehicle is based on the Range Rover Sport platform and will be fitted with a 3.0 litre TDV6 diesel engine matted with a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. Land Rover’s objectives are to achieve a range of 20 miles using electric power only emitting less than 100 g/km of CO2 emissions and to reach a top speed of around 120mph.