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Evoquing the Future

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
08 July 2010

Evoque: Think of it as Land Rover's MINI
The altering face of today's motoring landscape is a truly intriguing and amazing thing, and never has this been more the case than now.

Don't believe me?

Then all I need to do is point you in the direction of Land Rover. More specifically, it’s new Range Rover Evoque, launched last week in a whirl of media hype at Kensington Palace's Orangery.

Now, you don't need to have a Masters degree in perception to work out that the Evoque (still can't quite manage to type that name without feeling more than a little sick) represents a seismic shift in the values of the Range Rover brand, and one that will change the company forever.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's worth remembering that the original Range Rover was itself something of a novelty on its conception back in 1970. As the first 'luxury 4x4', it was aimed at those who still wanted the off-road ability of a Defender, but who also wanted their teeth intact after a trip to the shops.

Since then, the Gaydon company's flagship has moved up in the world, and now operates in an exclusive class of its own as a sort-of S-Class rival that can still cross the Sahara should the desire take you.

This is why Land Rover has taken the opportunity to expand the Range Rover brand in recent times, starting with the compact Sport model – popular among school-run mums – in 2005, and now they have given us the Evoque.

The target market for the Evoque becomes fairly obvious when you consider that it was launched in association with Vogue Magazine, and with a certain Mrs. Victoria Beckham drafted in as part of the design team...but if the Evoque doesn’t turn out to be one of the must-have cars of the decade, I’ll personally eat one.


But while the Range Rover Sport resembles a shrunk-in-the-wash version of the full-fat model, there is absolutely zilch chance of any such confusion with the Evoque. It is, as they say, an entirely different animal.

For starters, Land Rover refers to the Evoque as a '3-door coupé'. Now, if you'd told me five years ago that the maker of the Discovery and Defender would be giving us a coupé within half a decade, I'd have pointed you towards the 'Psychiatrist' section of Yellow Pages. But what came out of that smoking white box last Thursday would have been enough for me to swallow my words and write you a profuse letter of apology for the bother.

It’s not as if we can argue much with the coupé tag; yes, it is pushing it a bit, but just take a look at the window line, narrowing as it does to that impossibly shallow rear screen. Seriously, if Land Rover doesn't offer parking sensors as standard on the Evoque, it will be the worst safety decision since Mercedes decided that the first-generation A-Class would be better off without ESP.

The shape has stayed remarkably, fabulously close to the LRX concept of two years ago, and some of the detailing is so intricate it makes its recently-revised big brother look like something of a concrete slab. Draw your gaze for a moment to the enticingly-shaped LED lighting front and rear, and the way in which the line linking the headlamps and those gorgeous side-vents is interrupted by the mighty curve of the wheel arch. Tell me you’re not enthralled by this stuff, I dare you.

In the Evoque, we also have the first non-4x4 Land Rover ever, available as it will be with a front-wheel-drive only option. This thing is as likely to be taken off-road as a Lotus Elise in any case, so really it’s a no-brainer.

Then we come to the number-crunching. According to Land Rover MD Phil Popham, the Evoque will be “capable of over 50mpg”, a figure partly owing to the lack of drive to the rear wheels. Land Rover also claims a miserly CO2 output of 130g/km. Quite something for a car wearing the famous Gaydon badge on its snout.

The target market for the Evoque becomes fairly obvious when you consider that it was launched in association with Vogue Magazine, and with a certain Mrs. Victoria Beckham drafted in as part of the design team. The former Spice Girl’s actual role within the company, for whatever reason, was not specified, but “Device for Earning Tabloid Headlines” probably isn’t too far off the mark.

Here we have a car, then, that will undoubtedly appeal to the wealthy and ultra fashion-conscious; to those who want a second car to go with their XJ or similar. Think of it as Land Rover's MINI, if you will – with the according scope for endless customisation.

Popham claims that the Evoque will appeal to “a younger audience than current [Range Rover] products, and probably a more female-oriented audience”. In other words, this is unchartered territory for the now Indian-owned company.

This doesn't mean there's any chance that the Evoque will turn out to be a turkey, though. The engineering input of Jaguar-Land Rover handling guru Mike Cross is practically a guarantee of exemplary road manners, and with an interior likely to be similar to the 'proper' Range Rover - only smaller and more spangly - the only area in which it might fall short is practicality. But when was the last time boot size mattered to the nouveau-riche of this world?

The pricing, I'm sure, will be on the wrong side of reasonable (a well-specced Evoque will be knocking on the door of £40k), but despite this, it will probably – no, unquestionably – sell in massive numbers and make a more-than-tidy profit for the brand.

It’s worth mentioning, too, that the Evoque will be built on Merseyside, creating 1,000 British jobs in the process. This is something that would have made Charles Spencer King, the genius behind the original Range Rover and who sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago, a very proud man indeed.

So there you have it: a 3-door Range Rover coupé that has the same footprint as a Golf and does over 50mpg. Crazy? Not a bit of it. In fact, if the Evoque doesn’t turn out to be one of the must-have cars of the decade, I’ll personally eat one. You heard it here first.


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