Next Range Rover Evoque teased ahead of reveal

Land Rover has confirmed it will pull the drapes off its next-generation Range Rover Evoque tomorrow (Friday, November 23) at 6:00am (AEST) and has released an image that previews the second-gen SUV.

The 2019 Range Rover Evoque image, posted on the car-maker's Facebook page, follows on from an earlier teaser featuring wire frame sculptures and suggests the new SUV will feature evolutionary styling with perhaps some design cues from the Range Rover Velar injected into the mix.

Seven years after its launch, the current Range Rover Evoque remains one of Jaguar Land Rover's most important vehicles, finding more than 750,000 sales in total and making it one of Australia's most popular small luxury SUVs in Australia.

Since sales have never dropped below 100,000 annually, Land Rover has been careful not to mess too much with the winning formula hence the resistance to reinvent the wheel.

Roughly the same size as the current car, but with a fractionally stretched wheelbase, the 2019 Evoque clearly keeps its slippery coupe-like shape and familiar lines but has been modernised with slimmer Velar-style LED headlights and its bigger brother's pop-out door-handles.

It's a similar story for what's happened under the skin. Instead of starting from scratch, the next Evoque is based on a the same D8 architecture the original small Rangie was underpinned by back in 2011.

Although it's thoroughly updated for the 2019 model, the D8 platform that also underpins the Jaguar E-PACE rules out any chance of a pure-electric version to rival Volvo's forthcoming battery-electric XC40.

The ageing architecture is also rumoured to have delayed the introduction of JLR's next-generation of 48-volt mild-hybrid tech, until 2020 at the earliest.

That means, initially, the 2019 Evoque will be introduced with a turbocharged 2.0-litre Ingenium petrol and diesel combined with the ZF-sourced nine-speed automatic transmission.

Initially all versions, including the entry-level models, will get all-wheel drive with the car-maker's latest advanced Terrain Response system.

When electrified Evoques are introduced, they will get JLR's latest 48V mild hybrid powertrains that combine a small three-cylinder 1.5-litre Ingenium engine with a small electric motor.

Clawing back energy under braking, the clever hybrid will feed a small lithium-ion battery that powers all the ancillaries, like the air-con to boost efficiency.

Inside, most of the Velar's features, including its stylish dual touchscreens will migrate to the small Evoque with the baby Range Rover expected to introduce the car-maker's latest levels of connectivity.

Unlike the last model, a three-door coupe will not be offered as with the previous version sold poorly, although the British car-maker is rumoured to be readying a replacement for its Evoque Convertible that could be on sale as soon as 2021.