Land Rover lops roof off Evoque. Is it a good idea?

By Davey G. Johnson, AutoWeek

To bend a quote from the little green sage of Dagobah, “Begun, the CrossCab wars have.”

When Carlos Ghosn shepherded the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet to production, many questioned the need for a lifted, AWD Jacuzzi. And while we haven't run across too many in our corner of California, we can confirm that driving around the festivities surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last year, the convertible Murano attracted as much attention as anything else on the Monterey Peninsula. Even the most jaded parking attendants flipped over the wacky ute.

Apparently, Land Rover was smitten with the concept as well, because it is dropping a convertible iteration of the Evoque at the Geneva motor show.

Since one of the oft-repeated derisive phrases about the CrossCab is, “It looks like a concept car that should've stayed a concept,” and one of the most hoary plaudits given the Evoque is that it resembles a concept car made production-car flesh, it stands to reason that Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern might consider an Evoque décapotable to be a potentially desirable line extension if he felt that he could nail the execution.

Land Rover's engineers say that 165 pounds of additional bracing would be required to stiffen the small luxury ute for drop-top duty, as well as about two years of R&D to get things just so. With 50,000 Evoques produced and orders for 60,000 more, the company is looking to gauge reaction to the drophead. If interest is low, it doesn't feel the need to divert production capacity for a niche model.

However, if it's a smash hit, the convertible Evoque could bust the open-air CUV microsegment wide open. After all, nothing improves the breed like competition. We'll be waiting for the BMW X6 M cabrio.