The production version of the LRX concept heads for a Paris debut.Land Rover is using the Paris auto show to fully reveal the production version of the Range Rover Evoque—say “evoke”—the brand’s latest effort to reach urbane city slickers who are no more likely to drive off pavement than they are to stock their fridges with non-organic seaweed croquettes. Based on the 2008 LRX concept car and built off the current Land Rover LR2 platform—itself based on Ford’s European mid-size front-drive C architecture—the Evoque will hit showrooms in the fall of 2011 with prices starting around $45,000.
Drawn by Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern, the production Evoque varies little from the LRX concept, looking like a Range Rover Sport that has been stepped on. It pushes various hot-roddish buttons, including pinched headlights and taillights, a hiked-up beltline, a rearward-sloping roof, and humongous 19- or 20-inch wheels. One Range Rover tradition remains: the “floating roof,” which, thanks to blacked-out pillars, seems to be separated from the body only by glass.
A 2.0-liter four-cylinder stretches fuel mileage, and it puts out 240 hp with the help of a turbocharger and direct injection. The company says that the Evoque will be the most fuel-efficient Range Rover ever but, considering that thriftiest model sold in the U.S. currently is the Range Rover HSE with an EPA rating of 12 mpg city/18 highway, that’s not saying much.
Read More: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q3/2012_land_rover_range_rover_evoque-auto_shows
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