Land Rover is to get a £27m taxpayer injection to help it develop the LRX concept for production, according to a statement today by business secretary Peter Mandelson.
The proposed payment, which needs to be agreed by the EU, is a small part of the £400m that Land Rover’s Indian owner Tata says it needs to put the new mini-Range Rover into production. However the government backing for the project is designed to help ensure the new model is built at Halewood, says the official statement.
The new model will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient that Land Rover has ever produced. Although based on the LRX concept the production version will have five doors and a hybrid version is also mooted.
The grant was applied for many months ago, according to reports, and is unrelated to the industry’s total claim for a £2.3n government support package that is also being discussed by industry representatives in London today.