The first Range Rover Evoque has rolled off the production line at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant on Merseyside.
The first Evoque in final production spec is a white five-door model in Dynamic trim. This Evoque will be donated to the Heritage Motor Centre Museum in Gaydon, as is the norm with new Jaguar Land Rover products.
See pics of the first Range Rover Evoque
The Evoque will be built alongside the Freelander (on which it is loosely based) on the same production line at Halewood.
Read Autocar's Range Rover Evoque first drive review
The workforce at Halewood has more than doubled as 1500 new staff were taken on to produce the Evoque. Land Rover will pump £2 billion into the UK economy with 40 contracts handed out to local supply firms.
In the UK, Land Rover expects a rough 50/50 split between sales of the three-door and five-door model, although globally the five-door will account for around two thirds of sales.
The first 15-20,000 Evoques will be built before customer-specified models roll down the production line to provide suppliers with an initial stability of orders. Land Rover predicts the average Evoque buyer will be between 30 and 40 years of age and around half of all Evoque buyers will be female.
The Evoque will cost from £27,955 for the two-wheel-drive diesel manual version when it reaches UK showrooms in September. Order books are already open.
Read more on the planned Range Rover Evoque Evoque 'XL'
The Evoque will be available in three trim levels, Pure, Prestige and Dynamic, marking a break with the company’s traditional names.
Three engine options are available: a 2.2-litre turbodiesel in 148bhp or 187bhp states of tune, and a 236bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol unit.
The five-door Evoque is roomier than the coupe, with a 30mm higher roofline, but as an illustration of Land Rover’s strategy for the car the range-topping model will still be the coupe, at £44,320 for the Si4 Dynamic with six-speed auto and LUX pack.
See all the latest Range Rover Evoque reviews, news and video
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