After Jaguar Land Rover reported one of the largest annual profits in the region’s history, Enda Mullen took a look at a new generation of Range Rovers.
A glitzy show featuring pop music, models, dancers and acrobats – which would not look out of place gracing a West End stage – gave members of the public their first chance to see Jaguar Land Rover’s new Range Rover Evoque.
Held at the NEC, the weekend run of shows gave a select audience of Land Rover enthusiasts and potential customers a fast and furious introduction to the car described as the company’s lightest and most dynamic vehicle to date.
The Evoque, which will be built at Land Rover’s Halewood plant in Merseyside and goes on sale in September, will also be the first two-wheel-drive vehicle the renowned 4x4 maker has ever produced, though purists will be relieved to know it comes in four-wheel-drive form, too.
Another billing for a vehicle seen as the first of several new Range Rover models due in the years ahead is that it will be the cleanest and greenest Land Rover vehicle yet.
Belinda Mason was part of the design team of around 20 based at Gaydon, Warwickshire, that created the Evoque under design director Gerry McGovern.
Ms Mason, a masters graduate in industrial design from what is now Birmingham City University, specialised in seat design as part of the interior team and said the Evoque design has remained close to the “show car” on which it was based – the LRX.
More often than not car-makers create eye-catching and outrageous concept cars that get watered down to the point where the production vehicle it evolves into bears little resemblance to the initial design.
Ms Mason revealed the LRX concept car was permanently on display in one of the main areas of the Gaydon design headquarters, serving as a constant reminder of the Evoque’s starting point and the direction it should be heading in.
“We walked past it every day and it was nice to have it there as a reminder,” she said.
“It is quite unique the way the Evoque has managed to stay true to the original design.”
Explaining how the project came about, she added: “The LRX involved looking at a smaller 4x4 vehicle and it went down extremely well.
“It was one of those vehicles everyone was wowed by and it was then decided we would make it.
“Obviously we had some strong design cues and if you look at the Evoque you can see it has stuck quite closely to the show car.
“I think it surprised us all. Obviously there were difficulties getting it into production – engineering battles trying to get things to fit and that type of thing – but it has such a strong visual aspect to it my work was much easier.
“The key elements of the concept design have been picked up on and translated into the finished vehicle.”
In terms of models thus far it is just the second vehicle the Gaydon Design team has produced, the first being the Rangestormer concept which became the Range Rover Sport, and represents an important new direction.
“It was almost like a new start for us,” said Ms Mason.
