October 09, 2015 01:00 AM

Range Rover plans limited run of Evoque cabrios

The Range Rover Evoque Convertible is pictured during tests at Land Rover's all-terrain proving ground.

LONDON -- Land Rover will unveil the Range Rover Evoque Convertible at the Los Angeles auto show next month.

Land Rover will start sales of the open-air SUV next spring in most of the markets where the hardtop Evoque is available, a company spokeswoman said. This will include Europe, the U.S. and China.

The automaker will only build a “small run” of the niche vehicle at its factory in Halewood, England, the spokeswoman said, without revealing exact figures.

The car is expected to be priced above the standard Evoque, which is as Jaguar Land Rover's top-seller with a global volume of 124,000 in its financial year ended March 31. The Evoque starts at 34,500 euros in Germany.

The Evoque Convertible, which will have a folding softtop roof, is aimed at people who live a “refined and luxurious lifestyle,” Land Rover head of design Gerry McGovern said in a statement.

Land Rover first revealed the car as a concept in 2012 and announced earlier this year that it would produce the vehicle. The company is displaying full-size wire frame models of the car outside premium brand stores around London to publicize the vehicle's upmarket positioning.

Land Rover claims the Evoque Convertible is the world's first open-air luxury compact SUV.

Open SUVs are rare today but in the past a number of non-premium variants were offered, including the first-generation Toyota RAV4 and Land Rover's first Freelander. One of the most recent convertible SUVs was Nissan's Murano CrossCabriolet, which was launched in 2011 in the U.S and dropped last year.