Halewood to build Evoque convertible

LAND Rover has confirmed the world’s first premium compact SUV convertible, a new model of its best-selling Evoque will go on sale in 2016.

It will be manufactured at the company’s Halewood factory on Merseyside, the India-owned automotive group said.

Employee numbers at Halewood have rocketed over the last three years to 4,500 mostly as a result of the international success of the Evoque.

Further details about the new model will be revealed later this year.

The news was confirmed by Land Rover at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, where it released a unique underground testing film.

Forty metres below the streets of London the first prototype of Land Rover’s new Range Rover Evoque Convertible was granted exclusive access to the 26-mile (42km) network of Crossrail tunnels for the development test.

Engineers were allowed the opportunity to drive the disguised Evoque Convertible with its roof lowered in complete privacy.

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The short film begins with the convertible being lowered into the tunnel network by crane, before negotiating a range of obstacles through the 6.2 metre diameter tunnel.

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.”