Land Rover still hasn’t given us all the specifics but they have talked about the choice of three themes for the upcoming Evoque.  These cover both exterior & interior design, with colors, materials, wheels & more.  I’m really interested to see the pricing differences, with what I guess we can call trim levels.

So here are the three themes and some of the few pictures available:

• Pure – combining the stunning concept-car exterior with a stylish, clean interior in neutral colours to highlight the pure, simple forms of the cabin architecture. Soft-touch, wrapped materials on the major surfaces contrast with the real-metal brushed aluminium trim.

• Prestige – ultimate Range Rover luxury, combining a bespoke exterior that includes unique, 19-inch wheels and sparkling metallic details with an indulgent interior that is almost entirely leather-wrapped. Luxurious duo-tone colour schemes are embellished by premium leather, twin-needle stitching and real wood and metal finishes.

• Dynamic – bold exterior with 20-inch wheels and unique bumpers, sills, grille and tailpipes for a more assertive, confident stance. Contrasting roof and spoiler colour is a no-cost option, while the premium sports interior offers a darker environment with splashes of bright contrast colour, together with perforated leather seats and unique sports detailing.

Other then that, the only real clues we have is this image from the official Evoque page at landroverusa.com, which shows various materials & patterns:

And I’ll repeat myself, I think this is an evolved production version of the Range Stormer, I really wonder how much of a direct connection between the Stormer & the Evoque there is.  So maybe the LRX was a concept of the concept?

If Land Rover can really start to get their ratings up in quality & reliability they really could be unstoppable.  With their continued record breaking sales, their real Achilles heel is the poor ratings they get year after year from J.D. Power & the like.  Imagine where they’d be if they could come out on the top of that list.  Let’s hope Dr. Mertens can make that happen – especially with the launch of the updated & new models over the next few years.

And here’s the official press release:

Peter Mertens has joined Jaguar Land Rover as Director, Quality and the Automotive Safety Office.

Dr. Mertens, who takes up his position with immediate effect, will assume global responsibility for Jaguar Land Rover’s quality and safety performance. He reports directly to Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ralf Speth.

With more than 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, Peter has worked in a wide variety of roles including product development and aftersales engineering at Mercedes Benz and more recently as Global Vehicle Line Executive at General Motors.

"Jaguar and Land Rover have an incredibly exciting future that I am very pleased to be a part of. Quality and safety are absolute priorities and my task is to take the standard even higher," commented Mertens.

Following an apprenticeship as a toolmaker Mertens completed a Masters in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the United States. He later went on to complete his doctorate in Production Engineering and Industrial Engineering at the University of Kaiserslautern.

He is 49 years old and married with three children.

I think it’s neat that they went with the white roof on that first official picture of the 5-door Range Rover Evoque.  The “Dynamic Theme” does offer:

Contrasting roof and spoiler color are available as a personalization option.

In the UK Press Release, it’s listed as a “no-cost option”, but “no-cost” is missing from the US Press Release.

We can actually see a black roofed version  of the Coupe in these two pics:

But getting back to the 5-door, after passing a new Mini on the road yesterday, I realized that Mini has used the same color scheme forever:

So I ask, is this a British design thing? 

Hopefully an owner won’t have to get their new Range Rover TDV8 towed but if they do, be sure the person towing knows what they’re doing.  I first found out about this when the 2011 rotary selector was revealed.  I started looking up how the Jaguar system worked and found references to the “Emergency Park Release(EPR)” – then further searching showed how this worked on both the Jaguar XJ & XF explaining how to get the vehicle out of Park and into Neutral, until you reset it.

Here are the reasons for the EPR:

•Shift-by-Wire is now incorporated into the automatic transmission
•In the event of vehicle failure a mechanical means of selecting Neutral is now required, the EPR provides this functionality
•Failures that could result in the use of EPR:
•Transmission / Engine failure
•Electrical failure
•Recovery of vehicle -by towing
•When the EPR hand lever is operated the park pawl within the transmission will be released and will not be allowed to re-engage until the hand lever is released from its latched position.
•WHEN EPR LEVER IS PULLED VEHICLE WILL BE IN NEUTRAL AND WILL BE ABLE TO FREE WHEEL.

On the Jaguars. the EPR is located within the center console, on both the XJ & XF, you need to remove some small trim to get to it, but it’s not very hard to do.  Once that trim is removed, it’s just a matter of turning a lever.  Here’s how it’s done on an XJ:

And here’s the XF with the trim removed – the red arrow on the left side is pointing to the EPR

So anyway, I was waiting to see how Land Rover was going to handle it with the new setup – would they modify the center cubby or maybe something under the cup holders that could just pop out?

So finally the 2011 Owner’s Manual is released and it has all the instructions for using the new gear selector.  First thing I noticed are a few warnings throughout the manual but nothing on the EPR beyond this:

If your transmission is controlled with a rotary drive selector, the recovery agent
MUST activate the Emergency Park Release before towing commences.

NEUTRAL
Disconnects drive to the wheels. Use the parking brake while N is selected.
Do not use for vehicle recovery purposes.

Do not use rotary gear selector position P for vehicle recovery purposes. If your vehicle
requires recovery by towing, the recovery must be undertaken by qualified personnel. They
must activate the Emergency Park Release before towing commences. This procedure is
explained in a separate publication for service personnel.

So it gets more interesting, it appears you aren’t supposed to do this to your own vehicle.  And I guess they assume you’d be towed by Land Rover Roadside, and they should know what to do.

But I didn’t stop there, I went over to TOPIx, the Land Rover tech site and started looking around.  I found the document there and the process surprised me, and there they call it: “Emergency Park Position Release Lever”.  Now it’s possible there is a different way to do this, but from everything I’m reading you actually have to remove most of the center console trim that surrounds the transmission selector(Floor Console Upper Panel) – here you can see it with that trim removed and the EPR in blue:

So it does appear that you really do need qualified personnel doing this, that know how to remove the side wood trim then the floor console upper panel, possibly even a trim piece from the HVAC controls area & parking brake lever, all in at least 8 screws, before finally getting to the EPR.  Info is sparse on this, so it’s possible I’m getting something wrong, so please correct me if you’re in the know and let’s just hope no one needs to be towed!

Updated with new L322 information, 9/21/2012

Emergency Park Release System 4.4L diesel vehicles only:

The Range Rover Drive Selector is now incorporated with the automatic transmission.

• In the event of a vehicle transmission failure a mechanical means of selecting neutral is now available, an Emergency Park      Release (EPR) provides this functionality
• In an emergency, the EPR hand lever can be operated to release the park pawl within the transmission. The park pawl will not be allowed to re-engage until the hand lever is locked down in the closed position.
• Actuation of the EPR requires the operator to be seated in the drivers’ seat with the foot brake applied.  Turn the locking device 90 degrees anti-clockwise and lift using the pull strap.

Check that the EPR lever locking device is in the correct locked position:

• Remove the cup holders and the EPR lever cover by lifting upwards.

• Make sure the EPR lever locking device is in the locked position as shown.

So Land Rover just officially revealed the 2-door Range Rover Evoque at the Paris Auto Show.  It was short and sweet and didn’t reveal too much new info.  But there were two interesting things.

First, they did not show the 5-door model and said it wouldn’t be shown until later this year.  For those who can’t wait, here’s a video of it showing off on the Nürburgring:

And a picture of a dealer preview via Autoblog:

Second & actually more surprising, the vehicle they showed actually did have a Land Rover badge on the right-hand side of the rear tailgate.  So maybe they aren’t going to forget the brand.  I would have put up a screenshot but they still haven’t put up the replay of the video.  Here’s a shot posted by Stuart Schorr, Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs, Jaguar Land Rover North America:

Funny thing is, not even a real Range Rover has a rear badge anymore…

You can watch a replay of the reveal here:

http://www.helloevoque.com/blog/watch-the-live-reveal/

And Phil Popham did say it would start at £35,000 – I can’t remember if that was new info or not?