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Perhaps the most eagerly-awaited production car to get its first public airing at the Paris Motor Show was the Range Rover Evoque. Or perhaps I’m only talking from my own point of view here as a current LR2 owner. Either way, the Evoque is a massive departure from the vehicles of yore for the green/black oval and is designed to appeal to the sort of person who might currently own – or desire to own – an Audi TT or MINI Cooper S.
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One key thing to note about the Evoque is that it doesn’t carry any Land Rover badging whatsoever. The car is destined to be the sexy entry level vehicle for the more luxurious – and naturally, more expensive – Range Rover brand.
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And although the Evoque does feature a version of the brand’s hardcore Terrain Response System – though without the chunky dial to access the different modes – going off-piste isn’t really what this car is made for. Sure, I have no doubts it’ll be cracking on the dunes thanks to its relative light weight – around 1675kg for the 4WD version, some 100kg lighter than my LR2 – and short wheelbase, but the Evoque is destined to spend its time in fashionable parts of town, rather than crossing the Empty Quarter.
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Director of design at Land Rover, Gerry McGovern, has worked hard to ensure that the Evoque stands out from the existing Range Rover and Sport models. To me, this task was made much easier due to the fact that it’s a three-door car. I know there’s a five-door version coming, but judging from the spy pics I’ve seen elsewhere, it’s the three-door that carries off the look so much better. It’s a lot smaller than you might think – at 4350mm in length, it’s quite close in size to a VW Golf.
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The brand went to town with the car’s launch in Paris with a number of artists being brought on board to create installation pieces of work around wireframe models. The resulting art works were then displayed in high-profile areas on the streets of Paris. There was even a VIP event after the show itself which was even graced by the presence of none other than Mr Craig David.
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Dubious celebrity tie-ups aside – I won’t go into the Victoria Beckham-designed interior packages at the moment – the Evoque is a smartly-designed car and deserves to do well when it hits showrooms next Summer. At last year’s Frankfurt show, I promised the boss of Land Rover, Phil Popham, that if he brought the LRX concept to production reality I’ll be buying one. It looks like my LR2’s days are numbered.
