Land Rover Hybrids Head Out for Transcontinental Expedition

With the announcement of the Range Rover HybridLand Rover Range Rover 3....United Kingdom, 2014 > present and Range Rover Sport HybridLand Rover Range Rover Sp...United Kingdom, 2014 > present, Land RoverLand RoverUnited Kingdom, 1978 > present15 models
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said that in order to prove the cars’ capability, Land Rover will drive three of them from its headquarters in Solihull, England, to the TataTataIndia, 1945 > present5 models
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headquarters in Mumbai, India. It is a distance of 9,950 miles (16,000km), and Land Rover has scheduled it to take 53 days over 12 countries.

The journey began on August 22, and the cars are scheduled to arrive on October 15. The route follows the historic Silk Trail trade route.

“We are delighted with progress so far, but the European leg is the easy part with good road networks – this has allowed us to use the Hybrid system to great effect predominantly in urban areas. As the expedition heads towards Eastern Europe and beyond over the next week, we expect the terrain to toughen,” said expedition leader Dougie Dale.

Over the journey, Land Rover has scheduled 10 stops in important markets like Germany, Russia and China to show off the new models. The drivers are Land Rover engineers with members of the media invited along for a few legs of the trip.

Land Rover is making the journey to prove that its hybrids trucks can handle the tough, off-road conditions that the Range Rover is known for. The trucks use the 3.0-liter V6 from the SDV6Land Rover Range Rover Sp...United Kingdom, 2014 > present4 photos
model and a 47hp electric motor that are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. It has a total system output of 335hp (340ps) and 516lb-ft of torque (700Nm). It takes less than seven seconds to reach 100km/h and has a top speed of 135mph (218km/h). It emits 169g/km of CO2 and uses 36.72mpg US (44.1mpg UK).