Range Rover LRX (2011): the first spy photos

The first spy shots of the Land Rover-based mule for the new 2011 Range Rover LRX have been released.

The Land Rover LRX was shown as a concept car at the 2008 Detroit auto show, but the west Midlanders rapidly realised that a small, premium soft-roader was exactly what its upmarket Range Rover arm needed. So the LRX has crossed the corridor and will wear a RR badge when it's launched in 2011.

This LRX mule was only registered in the first week of September 2009 and it's already pounding the Nurburgring test track in Germany, as Land Rover engineers from Gaydon step up their work on the LRX project.

It's telling this spyshot was taken with the LRX masquerading as a baby Freelander; the two models will share the same transverse layout and the LRX will be built alongside the Freelander up in the Halewood plant in the north west of England. The capacity will be freed up as the Jaguar X-type dies.

The model testing here is equipped with a 2.0-litre petrol engine, but smaller capacities will be offered too, as befits a car with a footprint similar to a VW Golf. In the longer run, Land Rover is engineering a hybrid drivetrain for the LRX, using the electrically driven rear axle as shown on its eco concept cars.

We'll see the finished Range Rover LRX in 2010 – perhaps to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Range Rover next summer – with production starting in early 2011.