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A Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan consortium has won a £1.7m share from a £3.2m UK Government fund for its ‘light weighting’ technology in cars.

The consortium has proposed to use the Formula 1 (F1) technology in family cars in order to make them lighter and fuel-efficient, as well as further advance plug-in vehicles.

Thhis technology could reduce the weight of steel components in vehicles by more than 50%, thereby potentially extending a plug-in car’s driving distance by up to 25%.

The winning projects were chosen after a competition was launched last September. Several firms and research institutions were encouraged to come up with innovative ideas to cut vehicle emissions.

"This competition continues our £600m commitment by 2020 to support the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles."

Of the total £38.2m, £30m has come from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, while the rest was contributed by Innovate UK.

This consortium’s proposed idea is one of more than 130 car manufacturers, technology companies and research centres across the country to have won a share of the fund.

Transport minister Andrew Jones said: "This competition continues our £600m commitment by 2020 to support the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles, making journeys cheaper and greener, ensuring the nation is fit for the future."

Companies that have won in the competition will have to begin unveiling working prototypes by 2018 and these technologies could feature in passenger cars from 2020.

Image: The winners of the competition will develop technologies to increase fuel efficiency of vehicles. Photo: courtesy of the UK Government.