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All-New Range Rover Evoque Mule Spied Inside and Out

When Land Rover first introduced the Range Rover Evoque, the world record for most eyebrows raised at the same time must have been broken, and never to be beaten again.
2nd-gen Range Rover Evoque 18 photos
Photo: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
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Here was a brand famed for the ruggedness of its vehicles as well as their imposing stature getting ready to release a posh mini-SUV that looked as much at home in a muddy field as a muddy pig on a ballet stage. Range Rover might have been the luxury branch of Land Rover for a while, but the Evoque took things to a whole new level.

That's because the previous models did pay attention to the finer things in life, but that didn't take anything away from their ability to negotiate terrains that could have appeared as completely nonnegotiable to most. The Evoque? Well, let's just say its prospective owners wouldn't even dream of taking it off-roading fearing they would break a nail as the steering wheel snapped from all the rocks and ruts it had to go over.

And yet it sold like crazy. And frankly, just by looking at it, you can kind of see why: the Evoque was just beautiful. Ironically, the small glasshouse meant that it was a bit of a pain to maneuver inside the city, which is where it spent most of its time, but in a segment where looks are 80 percent responsible for the buying decision (with the brand name taking care of the remaining 20 percent), the Evoque was a home run.

Since all good things must come to an end, so is the life of the current model, which also found the time to spawn what most thought to be a joke (and some still do): a convertible version. The second generation is beginning its testing phase, which means we're still in the chassis-tuning stage.

At this point, the body looks like it was made by somebody with crude assembly skills and limited access to a Land Rover parts store. All kinds of pieces are bolted on, and nothing we see is relevant to the final product in any way design-wise. It would be more useful to look at the recently unveiled Velar for any clues of what the next Evoque might look like.

The flared wheel arches of the current Evoque body dressing up the mule suggest the next model will get wider tracks, but since it fits perfectly longitudinally, we can imagine the wheelbase remains the same. That's not exactly good news for those wanting more interior space.

It's too early to get into details regarding powertrains, and yet there are a few things we can be sure of, which is the presence of the new four-cylinder gasoline and, depending on the market, diesel engines. Hybrid and electric versions are also on the cards, especially since Jaguar is known to develop the E-Pace - a smaller than the F-Pace electric SUV.

This capture also includes a few shots of the interior, but much like on the outside, nothing we see there really looks like it has much relevance for the end product as it's just the cockpit of the currently available model minus a few panels and with a red missile launching button in the middle.

Considering the current Evoque still sells well and the new one is still in its early development phase, we wouldn't expect to see it on the streets in its final form sooner than the end of next year.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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