Land Rover gets £27-million grant to develop green vehicles

Land Rover's project to make green cars on a budget of £400 million received a boost with the UK government granting £27 million to build a all new mini-4x4 'green' car, based on the Land Rover's LRX Concept.

Land Rover will receive a £27-million grant from the UK Government for the production of a new car, which the Tata Motors-owned company says would be used to produce JLR's lightest and most fuel-efficient model yet.

The car would be based on Land Rover's acclaimed LRX Concept vehicle, first shown at the Detroit Show last year, and would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient it has ever produced.

The announcement of the grant came as motor manufacturers and parts suppliers met yesterday in London to discuss the £2.3-billion loan announced by the UK government to the UK automobile industry in late January (See: Britain unveils £2.3 billion loan for car industry) 

The £27-million grant is separate from the £2.3-billion loan package and is not linked to any aid that Jaguar Land Rover may get from the UK government to tide over the current financial crisis that has dragged the UK automobile industry down to its knees.

Land Rover said that it will take a final decision later this year as to whether it would go ahead with the green car project, which is slated to be manufactured at its award-winning Halewood facility and launched in 2011 and the grant has still to go through a number of approval gateways in the product development process before getting the final go-ahead.