Land Rover unveiled its most fuel-efficient car ever at the French motor show: the new Freelander TD4_e Stop/Start. No prizes for guessing it's a diesel 4x4, whose economy is improved by 3.8mpg and CO2 falls by 8 percent.
Land Rover has been harping on about its new green technologies for quite a while – so it's a relief finally to see a production car (rather than the far-fetched concepts we've become used to) bristling with eco kit applied. They all fall under the grammatically dodgy e_Terrain Technologies badge.

The TD4_e cuts the engine at traffic lights and Land Rover claims it's enough to boost economy from the outgoing diesel's 37.7mpg to a useful 41.3mpg. Those all-important CO2 emissions fall from 194g/km to 179g/km. It's not just stop-start: there are more efficient tyres, remapped engine management and a gearshift indicator, as well as a beefed-up starter motor and other ancillaries to cope with the more frequent start-ups.

 And the best news? The kit will be standard-fit on diesel Freelanders (the bulk of Freelander sales, funnily enough). Phil Popham, Land Rover's managing director, said: 'From mid-2009, the Stop/Start feature will be included as standard on all Freelander 2 TD4 manual models, with no associated increase in list prices.' Bravo.