RANGE Rover has tested its newest EV by shooting up 300ft “Big Red” sand dunes and through some of the world’s starkest deserts in 50C heat.
The brand is looking to go back to its roots of hardy, go-anywhere SUVs while maintaining its premium edge.
Range Rover, under the Jaguar Land Rover umbrella, is launching itself into the future with its latest 4×4.
The so-called ‘Chelsea tractor‘ has long been subjected to shrill criticism from the environmental movement for being an old-school gas guzzler.
But, no doubt motivated by ever-tightening Net Zero rules, the firm has no produced a new zero-emission version of its iconic model.
However, just because bosses have done away with petrol power doesn’t mean that they’re willing to compromise on performance.
To show the world that the Rangie can still hack it on even the toughest terrain, JLR has recorded a series of “dynamic desert climbs”.
The first of these involves shipping the car out to the Al Badayer desert in Sharjah, UAE, where temperatures can reach over 50C.
It was there to take on the famous “Big Red”, a range of dunes made from scorched red sand, renowned as a “dune basher” playground.
Some of the highest mounds can reach up to 300ft into the desert air.
For reference, that’s about the same height as the Statue of Liberty.
In order to pass the test, the model has to get up and down a dune up to five times, without showing any decline in its performance.
Technicians have spent painstaking hours developing a new thermal management system to enable the car to cope with even the hottest climates.
That hot weather reliability likely helps when trying to market the roughly £100k motor to the ever-increasing millionaire population of states like the UAE and Dubai.
And while you’re unlikely to see 50C on a country lane in the UK, the new torque distribution is equally useful in handling slippery surfaces with ease.
It comes after SunMotors ran through the list of the most exciting cars set to launch in 2025.
