Range Rover Evoque a game-changer

Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern insists the radical change of direction signalled by the "cross coupe" _ revealed in Paris last month and a star of the Australian International Motor Show at Darling Harbour _ is "part of a journey for the Range Rover brand".

The "game-changing" Evoque is released here in September 2011, priced from about $60,000 against Audi's Q5 and BMW's X3.  "We're in the process of designing a whole new generation of Range Rovers and this the first one out of the block. For us it's about recognising our past but not being harnessed by it," McGovern says.

With Range Rover being synonymous with excessive size, weight and even decadence, McGovern says he fought a pitched battle with engineers not to compromise his original LRX concept, which dropped jaws at Detroit in 2008.

"We were intransigent about not moving away from that design intent," McGovern says. "It was a case of `we need to mover the roof up 60cm' and we said `over our dead bodies'. In the end we all got friendly and serious about delivering it.

"The original concept was always there in the studio as we started to develop the production vehicle. It almost became a catalyst for changing the culture of our business, for how we shape the future of Range Rover and Land Rover products.

"And we're well on the way to designing all those vehicles."  McGovern's team prevailed to the extent that, while the interior has been greatly developed from the "very concepty" innards of the LRX, exterior changes amount to little more than bonnet and roof being raised by 20mm.

"The design hasn't lost its drama, it's got that falling roof, the dramatic belt line and overall visual robustness. Clearly this is unlike any previous Range Rover, but it's very obviously a Range Rover," McGovern says.

While the more practical five door version is a starter for Australia, the useability of the three door was demonstrated by none other than Land Rover's managing director, Phil Popham, who folded his 190cm-plus frame into the cossetted rear seats with ease.  He calls the Evoque a "game changer, hugely significant" both for the brand and the segment.

Asked if there was a danger of a relatively affordable Range Rover blurring the status of the luxury brand in relation to the cheaper products of its parent, he says, "we are dialling up the versatility of Land Rover and dialling up of the `premiumness' of Range Rover".

While McGovern says is determined to shed the baggage of the past, Popham refuted suggestions that the two-wheel-drive version of the Evoque (offered alongside the AWD)diminishes the luxury marque's proud off road heritage.

"Two-wheel-drive is really focused in Eueope where they want the versatility of an SUV and the elevated driving position, but where a lot of people don't actively use AWD capability."

It's also a question, crucial in Europe, of sustainability. The smallest, lightest and thriftiest Range Rover to date emits a claimed 130g/km of CO 2 emissions per kilometre and the heaviest model weighs no more than 1640kg.

Its engines, all four cylinders, are a 177kW turbo petrol four with two versions of the 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel. While the six-speed auto transmission will overwhelmingly be the Australian buyer's choice, the six speed manual includes a fuel saving stop-start system. Those buyers will also be markedly younger than the Range Rover norm.

But is the Evoque something of girl's Rangie?  McGovern bridles at the suggestion, but concedes: "This car will attract a lot more females than were previously attracted to Range Rover, but that's down largely to its size and manageability around the city.

"We would never design a vehicle in a feminine way.  Generally sporting vehicles have a level of muscularity and women like muscularity."