It doesn't really look like a "truck" in the traditional sense, but neither did the other two finalists for the "Truck of the Year" award (the BMW X3 and the Honda CR-V - see photos above). These are more SUV or Crossover vehicles.
But, the government classifies them as trucks, so trucks they are.
The 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque took the 2012 North American Truck of the Year award. The award was announced this morning at the Detroit Auto Show.
This is the third time a European automaker has won the "Truck of the Year" award in the 19-year history of the award (domestic automakers have won it 12 times and Japanese automakers have won it four times).
Andy Goss, the president of Jaguar Land Rover of North America, said the company is excited about the award and plans to "market the hell out of it."
The award is judged by 50 automotive journalists. One juror, Frank Aukofer of Driveways, was quoted as saying "there's only one totally new vehicle in this class, which should not even be classified as a truck. It's the Range Rover Evoque. It would be my top choice except for its high price and laggard multipurpose touch-screen, which reacts in slow motion. Nevertheless, it's an entirely new direction for Land Rover, more a sports-car hatchback than off-road basher."
In it's review, Car and Driver asks "Can style rule in a utilitarian realm?"
That’s the $43,995 question riding the broad shoulders of the smallest-ever Range Rover, the Evoque. To be accurate, it’s the $43,995 to $53,895 question, if we include all the trim levels. That lofty base-price range makes the thesis issue—the preeminence of style as a purchase motivator for SUVs—critical to this Range Rover newbie. A matter of life and death, even.
