2020 Land Rover Defender Completes 1.2 Million Kilometers of Testing
Land Rover Defender prototype will experience life at Borana Conservancy as part of Land Rover’s 15-year partnership with Tusk Trust.
The prototype will tow heavy loads, wade through rivers and carry supplies across unforgiving terrain in a series of real-world trials at the nearly 35,000 acre (14,000 hectare) reserve. By the time the new Defender makes its public debut later this year, it will have passed more than 45,000 individual tests in some of the most extreme environments on earth. Land Rover engineers have taken the test fleet to the 122 degree Fahrenheit heat of the desert, the sub-40 degree Fahrenheit cold of the Arctic, as well as up to 10,000ft altitude of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to ensure the new Defender will take everyday life in its stride, for even its most adventurous customers.
“In addition to the extensive simulation and rig testing, we’ve driven new Defender 1.2 million kilometers across all terrains and in extreme climates to ensure that it is the toughest and most capable Land Rover vehicle ever made,” said Nick Rogers, Executive Director, Product Engineering at Jaguar Land Rover. “The incredible opportunity to put it to the test in the field, supporting operations at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya, with Tusk, will allow our engineers to verify that we are meeting this target as we enter the final phase of our development program.”
With on-road dynamics honed at the Nürburgring facility in Germany and all-terrain credentials tested on the muddy roads of Eastnor, UK, the rocky trails of Moab in Utah, and the sand dunes of Dubai, the new 4×4 promises to bring unparalleled breadth of capability and new levels of comfort and driveability to the Defender family.
The new Land Rover Defender has been designed and developed in the UK, at Gaydon, home to the world-class Land Rover design, engineering and testing facilities. The new home of global Defender production will be the recently opened state-of-the-art Land Rover manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia.