Back in January of 2008 Land Rover unveiled a concept car at the North American International Auto Show. This concept car was the Land Rover LRX. Three-and-a-half years later the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque went into production, in July of 2011, and was designed after the conceptual LRX. It’s classified as a compact crossover SUV, and gets some of the best fuel economy in its class, with 28 MPG highway and 18 around town.

Phil Popham, the Managing Director of Land Rover, told the press that the whole idea behind the Evoque was to “…deliver Range Rover levels of quality, drivability, and breadth of performance in a more compact, more sustainable package.” This is exactly what the Range Rover Evoque is. It’s obviously a crossover SUV but has 4-wheel drive capabilities and enough ground clearance to be a legitimate off-road SUV. However, like most Range Rovers it maintains a high level of luxury, comfort and convenience.

There are two models of this crossover, the Evoque and the Evoque Coupe. Three trim packages of each model of the Evoque are also available to the public, including the Evoque Pure, Evoque Prestige and Evoque Dynamic. All three sport an AWD 2.0-liter gas 4-cylinder engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission. With terrain response, consumers can push a button for snow, mud, sand, etc. and the Evoque will adjust power accordingly.

Amazingly, the Evoque is the lightest vehicle that has ever been manufactured by Land Rover, at just 3,700 lbs. Even more amazingly perhaps is the fact that it comes with the ability to put 5 cameras on the body. This allows the driver to see all angles around the car, thus eliminating practically any and all potential blind spots. With this type of technology already infused into the premier model, it will be interesting to see what improvements are made to future models of the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque.