Land Rover got some free PR when two of its brand new Defender 110 SUVs got a chance to demonstrate their capability in the Namib Desert.
The 2020 Land Rover Defenders were on a pre-launch media expedition in Namibia scouting-out a video shoot location when the team noticed a semi-trailer stuck in the Namib Desert.
The truck driver had been stranded in the remote desert with little to eat and drink and no communication with the outside world for three days, so you can imagine his joy of seeing the two properly-equipped 2020 Defenders stop by.
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Armed with their new Defender 110 (a D240 SE and a P400 S), strong ropes and resourcefulness, the Land Rover team managed to free the semi from the dry, sandy riverbed. The Defenders did it without difficulty, as the video below can attest.
The new Land Rover Defender has a claimed 3,500 kg (7,716 lbs) towing capacity but with the Scania truck and its tri-axle trailer weighing around 20 tonnes (44,092 lbs), the Defenders may have exceeded their official towing capacity. Let’s not forget they did so on a slippery, sandy surface.
Professional photographer Damian Blakemore, who was part of the Land Rover Defender team in Namibia, described the rescue as “International Rescue, New Defender style”. In a post on Facebook, he wrote: “The driver and his truck had been stuck in this dry riverbed for three days, miles from anywhere. What a car! What a team!”
The all-new Land Rover Defender will start arriving in Europe this spring in 110 form, with the shorter-wheelbase Defender 90 to follow in summer.
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