Land Rover Defender Achieves 1.2 Million Kilometer Test and Development Milestone

In order to mark World Land Rover Day, Land Rover has announced plans for its new Defender to complete a final stage of field testing with Tusk Trust, on location in Kenya.

A Defender prototype sporting a unique camouflage will be tested extensively at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya as part of Land Rover’s 15-year collaboration with Tusk Trust.

The prototype will be used for towing heavy loads, wading through rivers and for carrying  supplies across really tough terrain as part of a series of real-world trials at the 14,000-hectare reserve.

The new Defender is slated to make its debut later on in 2019 and by that time would have been tested extensively through over 45,000 individual tests held in some of the most extreme environments on earth. As part of these tests, Land Rover’s engineering team has taken the fleet of test Defenders to the 50-degree heat of the desert, the sub 40-degree cold of the Arctic and right upto the 10,000 ft altitude of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to ensure that the new Defender will be able to tackle all types of terrain even for its most adventurous customers.

Commenting on the tests, Nick Rogers, Executive Director, Product Engineering, Jaguar Land Rover, said that in addition to the extensive simulation and rig testing, the company has driven the 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 that has ever been made. Through Land Rover’s collaboration with the Tusk Trust, the company got the chance to test the model in the field, supporting operations at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya. This test would allow Land Rover’s engineers to enter the final phase of the Defender’s development program.

The model’s on-road dynamics were fine-tuned at the Nürburgring facility in Germany while its all-terrain credentials were tested on the muddy roads of Eastnor, UK, the rocky trails of Moab in Utah, and the sand dunes of Dubai. After such extensive tests, the new 4×4 holds out the promise of new levels of comfort and driveability and the capability to tackle even the toughest terrains.

The new Defender has been designed and developed in the UK, at Gaydon, where Land Rover’s world-class design, engineering and testing facilities are located. The model will be manufactured at Land Rover’s new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia.

Land Rover has been an official partner of Tusk Trust wildlife conservation charity for the past 15 years, helping the organization to gain access to some of the most remote locations in the world. Land Rover announced the news of the testing initiative to mark World Land Rover Day, which is celebrated on 30 April every year to mark the global launch of the original Land Rover at the Amsterdam Motor Show on the same date in 1948.