What's the news?
Well, in spite of the fact that the last person to look cool behind the wheel of a convertible Range Rover was Roger Moore (a one-off featured in the opening sequences of 1983's Octopussy, towing a horse box filled with an escape jet place - really) Land Rover is pressing ahead with the Range Rover Evoque Convertible. Land Rover confirmed today that the car will hit production in 2016.
With the facelifted version of the standard Evoque being shown off tomorrow at the Geneva Motor Show, the Convertible will feature the new range of low-CO2 Ingenium petrol and diesel engines as well as an updated cabin featuring Land Rover's new (and rather slick) InControl infotainment system.
For those doubting that a drop-top Evoque can be a true Land Rover, the company came up with a rather unique way to announce the car's production. Echoing the original Evoque's launch (which used a disused stretch of Victorian railway tunnel to allow off-roading under the very centre of urban Liverpool) a prototype Evoque Convertible was driven through the tunnels of London's multi-billion Cross-Rail project, which is trying to put in better, faster links between the main rail and tube stations of the sprawling metropolis.
Murray Dietsch, Director of Land Rover Programmes said: "The tunnels are still under construction, so we had a unique opportunity to explore the vehicle's all-terrain ability in unchartered territory."