Range Rover Hybrid completes Silk Trail Expedition to India (video)

A trio of Range Rover Hybrids has completed the 10,000 mile Silk Trail Expedition to India ahead of its public launch.

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Land Rover has been busy for the last 53 days taking a trio of Range Rover Hybrids down the Silk Trail from Land Rover’s home in the Midlands to Tata’s home in India.

In the process, the three Range Rover Hybrids, and their Land Rover support vehicles, have covered 10,472 miles in 53 days covering every terrain imaginable – and averaged 36mpg in the process.

The whole point of the outing was to give the hybrid Range Rover a proper workout ahead of its customer launch, and the trek to India certainly provided that with everything from sea level to 5500 metres and temperatures from -10 to 43C along the way, not to mention the vast array of terrain from tarmac to non-existent byways.

The trip – the first ever hybrid expedition along the ancient Silk Trail – passed through  France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China (including Tibet) and Nepal before arriving, slightly battered but unbowed, in India.

Peter Richings, JLR’s Hybrid Director, said:

The world’s first diesel hybrid expedition along the Silk Trail pioneered an ambitious route across Europe and Asia that would have been impassable to most other types of vehicle – but no matter how hostile the conditions, the Range Rover Hybrid prototypes took it all in their stride.

In developing the hybrid-powered Range Rover, our objective was to gain hybrid’s fuel economy and carbon emissions advantages without compromising the Range Rover’s go-anywhere capabilities, its cabin space or its refinement. The success of this remarkable expedition clearly demonstrates we have achieved that.

A great way to demonstrate the Range Rover Hybrid is a real Land Rover, gather data that would have been tough to get any other way and give the hybrid RR a proper PR outing.

Let’s hope, when it arrives, the new Range Rover Hybrid is as good as it seems.