Land Rover LRX diesel hybrid

Known for its heavy gas-guzzlers Land Rover is planning a diesel hybrid and two-wheel drive. The company is also spending more than $1 billion to design and build more eco-friendly off-roaders that are lighter and more fuel efficient to help combat tougher emission regulations. The two-wheel drive version of the Land Rover LRX off-roader will arrive in local showrooms around September next year.

Land Rover Australia spokesman, Tim Krieger, says the small off-roader will wear a Range Rover badge when it arrives. However, he says the final name of the car and product line-up is still "under review".

"It will sit above the Freelander and below the Range Rover Sport," he says. "For us it will also give buyers who don't really need four-wheel drive an opportunity to get into a Land Rover product."

It will also help expand the carmaker's customer base and give it a serious competitor in a growing two-wheel drive crossover segment, he says. The LRX will emit less than 130g/km of CO2, making it the most fuel efficient and lightest, Range Rover ever.

The company's first diesel electric hybrid Range Rover Sport is planned for 2013. But far from walking away from its off-road heritage, Land Rover's managing director Phil Popham says the company remains committed to making "the world's finest all-terrain vehicles" for customers who need a four-wheel drive. "But we'll also now offer an alternative to those that don't," he says.

Testing of the diesel hybrid prototype, called the "range-e", will start using a Range Rover Sport later this year. The Sport will use an existing 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine with an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. The goal is to achieve a range of 32km using electric power only as well as emit less than 100 g/km of CO2 emissions.