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Range Rover Hybrids Head Out On Silk Trail Expedition To India
Remember the Range Rover Hybrid SUVs we talked about last month and how Land Rover was taking them out on a 16,000 km expedition starting at Solihull, UK and ending in Mumbai, India? The ‘Silk Trail 2013' began on August 22nd and has already covered more than 3,034 km.
Three Range Rover Hybrid SUVs are taking part in the expedition that will last 53 days and will be divided into 10 stages. During this time the team will pass through 12 countries, namely France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Nepal and India.
The team consists of Land Rover R&D engineers who will be accompanied by journalists from respective countries as the team passes through the nations.
Silk Trail 2013 Expedition Leader, Dougie Dale said: "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 and we will really start to use the Range Rover Hybrid's uncompromised capability," he added.
"The 53-day expedition will cross 12 countries and tackle some of the world's most challenging roads, passes and trails, including part of the ancient, 4,000 mile Silk Road which connected Asia with the Mediterranean. This event is the latest in Land Rover's proud history of going ‘above and beyond'" said John Edwards, Land Rover Global Brand Director.
"A stunning combination of mountain passes, arid desert, high altitude, chaotic city streets, heat, humidity and wilderness will provide the perfect testing ground for our first hybrid. Our engineers are using this adventure as the final development drive before the official sign-off for series production later this year," added Edwards.
"Land Rover has been exploring the planet since the debut of its first model in 1948. With the new Range Rover Hybrid, the world's first premium diesel SUV hybrid, combining significantly lower CO2 emissions with uncompromised performance, the Silk Trail 2013 expedition expresses Land Rover's commitment to its vehicles as well as to the environment," concluded Edwards.
Range Rover Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Hybrid are the two variants Land Rover is currently testing. The Silk Trail is part of the last testing phase and the vehicles will be available for booking across Europe from September 10, with deliveries set to begin in early 2014.
The hybrid powertrain consists of 3.0 liter turbo diesel engine aided by a 35 kW, 170 Nm electric motor generating a total power of 335 HP and 700 Nm.
The hybrid SUVs can travel approx 1 mile at 48 km/h purely on electric power. The vehicles deliver an average fuel economy of 15.625 km/l. Read more about Range Rover Hybrid SUV in our previous story.
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