Range Rover Evoque: Are Land Rover plans for a 'Grand Evoque' taking shape?

Range Rover Grand Evoque planned - a stretched Evoque

Land Rover are considering plans for a stretched Range Rover Evoque – the Grand Evoque or Evoque XL – to fit between the Evoque and RRS.

Although it seemed to take forever to turn the Land Rover LRX in to the Range Rover Evoque, the Evoque has certainly had a real impact on the car market since it finally arrived this year. Plaudits and prizes galore, and an order book that seems to be growing every day.

So with a real success story in the making with the Evoque, what are Land Rover going to do to cash in on its success, apart from making as many Evoques as possible? More versions, seems the simple answer.

It seems likely we’ll see an Evoque Sport at some point with either a 300bhp Ecoboost lump or even the new compact V6 destined for the Jaguar XE. But looming in to view – perhaps even sooner than a hot Evoque – is a stretched Evoque, dubbed either ‘Grand Evoque’ or ‘Evoque XL.

Of course, there’s nothing new in these plans. Land Rover were planning to do a stretched version of the Freelander (which uses the same Ford-derived platform as the Evoque) and stick a ‘Ventura’ badge on it to bridge the gap between the Freelander 2 and the Range Rover Sport.

But it nows seems almost certain that LR will do the same to the Evoque instead. That would create an Evoque that’s up to a foot longer than the standard Evoque, with most of that in the wheelbase to give more interior space, and the rest at the back to make the boot more commodious.

We can also expect the Grand Evoque to come with the option of a third row of seats, a wide range of engines – including whatever LR use to make the Evoque Sport and the new 4-pot engines expected to be built at JLR’s new engine plant – and plenty of upmarket options.

Which will give Land Rover a very strong entry-point in to the Range Rover experience.