Range Rover Evoque prototypes go undercover

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The new Range Rover Evoque has entered its final phase of testing, with hundreds of prototype models dispatched around the globe for trial in the toughest climates and conditions.

And Land Rover is making no secret of the operation - its design team has fitted ten of the prototypes with funky camouflage wraps, meant to introduce the new car to ten key cities worldwide.

These unmissable vehicles will be spotted in London, New York, Sao Paulo, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Berlin, Sydney, Shanghai and Moscow. But they are just a small proportion of the hundreds of pre-production cars that will be rigorously tested over millions of miles to ensure the Evoque surpasses the highest standards of quality and reliability when it goes on sale in summer 2011.

Many of Land Rover’s 3500 engineers are dedicated to the programme. Teams will travel around the world to test the car in the most extreme conditions, ranging from Arctic to desert, from German Autobahns to Tokyo city traffic. Alongside the engineers, Land Rover is working with 120 unique component suppliers and will carry out 16,700 individual tests to examine every separate part and system.

Usually prototypes are disguised for discretion, but these ten are supposed to be seen. The funky camouflage imagery is actually a GPS mapping trail of the ten cities each car can be found in. Each vehicle says ‘Hello’ to the city, signaling the eagerly awaited global launch of the new car, which was first seen as the LRX concept in 2009.

Like all Range Rovers, the new compact model will have been proven against all the elements when it reaches showrooms next summer. Girlracer magazine