Dubai: The Range Rover Evoque is not a model one is likely to miss out on the road. Even with its low roofline and crunched up look at the back, it has a design ethos that would not fade with repeat viewings. In a Land Rover line-up where substantial holds the key, the diminutive Evoque holds its own.
Now, the new one has struck out a first, coming with a nine-speed transmission. “It is introduced for the first time in the 2014 model and represents the latest in Land Rover’s 65 years of technical world firsts,” said Robin Colgan, regional managing director at Jaguar Land Rover.
“It will significantly enhance Land Rover’s all-terrain and all-weather capability while the adaptive shift system matches and remembers customer driving style for a tailored driving experience.”
Point taken, but isn’t nine way too much on Evoque? “Not at all, it’s about improving fuel economy and driver experience and for those reasons the size of the vehicle is not an issue,” said Colgan. “A nine-speed transmission is about increasing bandwidth on what a car can deliver.
“And Evoque is every inch a Range Rover - its design and engineering carry the unique DNA of the brand. It’s effectively big car luxury in a smaller package with the same engineering quality and luxury that you would expect from the Range Rover or the Range Rover Sport.
“Despite improvements to Evoque for 2014 model year, we do not envisage any price increase.”
The earlier version was selling for well upwards of Dh200,000 plus and available in three- and five-door formats. It had a six-speed transmission mated to a 2.0-litre engine.
“While it was never our intention to break into the high volume market, I can categorically say that compared with other luxury manufacturers in the same segment, Evoque is the dominant model when it comes to volume sales in the GCC and Levant,” said Colgan.
But is it the case that the Range Rover models make up the overwhelming numbers in the manufacturer’s regional volumes? In other words at the expense of the Land Rover models?
“No, it’s not the case; in fact, there has been a notable step change in volumes across all nameplates,” said Colgan. “Growth in numbers for each model has contributed to a sales increase of 40 per cent for January to September versus same time last year.”
