Range Rover’s ground breaking Evoque – the smallest, lightest and most fuel efficient Range Rover so far – was launched at the Paris Motor Show.

With its stablemates including the Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Autobiography – probably the best SUVs on the planet – you can expect the Evoque to be an extraordinary addition to the compact SUV market segment.

The Evoque is the vehicle Range Rover has to have, an SUV for the times – power comes from a choice of two 2.2-litre turbo-diesels (140kW and 110kW) or a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol (177kW). And here’s a real ground-breaker from Range Rover – the Evoque is available with optional two-wheel-drive-only for maximum fuel efficiency.

Fuel consumption is as low as 5.6l/100kms and exhaust emissions get below 145g/km. 

In addition to those planet-friendly statistics, the Evoque maximizes the use of sustainable and recycled materials and has been designed to optimize end-of-life recyclability. Each individual Evoque uses 16kgs of recycled plastic material in items like the wheel arch liners, cooling fan and shroud, air ducting and even the sound system’s subwoofer box.

Range Rover Evoque displays a dramatic exterior style but measures only 4,350mm in length – 430mm shorter and actually 180mm lower than the Range Rover Sport. There are LED lights rear and front with the latter delivering ‘Light-Blade’ technology and an optional panoramic glass roof which is the largest ever offered on a Range Rover.

Underneath, 4WD models use Range Rover’s hallmark intelligent four-wheel-drive system with the latest version of Terrain Response.

Inside is pure Range Rover luxury with duo-tone premium twin-stitched leather seats, real wood and metal trim plus new features like LED mood lighting in a range of colours which can be selected by the driver.

Other available features include a 17-speaker Meridian audio system, hard-drive navigation system with off-road navigation, a five-camera surround system, Blind Sport Monitoring System and Park Assist for automated parallel parking plus a Digital TV entertainment system with twin eight-inch rear seat screens.

Range Rover Australia has not as yet finalized the local details for the Evoque.