New Land Rover Defender completes 1.2 million test kilometres

-    The new-gen Defender will undergo a unique Tusk Trust test in its final phase of development.

-    The test prototype will be put to work, towing, wading and carrying supplies at the Borana Conservancy in Kenya to support vital conservation work.

-    Expected to break cover in September this year. 

On April 30, 1948, the Land Rover Series I was first unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show and now that date is celebrated as World Land Rover Day. For the occasion this year, the British carmaker has teased the new-gen Defender which has achieved a milestone of completing 1.2 million kilometres of testing. 

To mark the occasion as well as to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the original Land Rover, a camouflaged prototype will experience life at the Borana Conservancy as part of Land Rover’s 15-year partnership with the Tusk Trust in Kenya. The Tusk Trust is a British non-profit elephant protection organisation,

 The prototype will tow heavy loads, wade through rivers and carry supplies across unforgiving terrain in a series of real-world trials at the 14,000-hectare reserve. Land Rover has been an official partner of the Tusk Trust wildlife conservation charity, helping to reach some of the world’s most remote locations

The carmaker claims that the Defender has already passed more than 45,000 individual tests in some of the most extreme environments on earth. The engineers have taken the test fleet to the 50-degree heat of the desert, the sub-40-degree cold of the Arctic, as well as up to an altitude of 10,000ft in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Apart from that, the Defender has also honed its dynamics on the Nurburgring, tested the all-terrain 4x4 credentials on the muddy roads of Eastnor, UK, the rocky trails of Moab in Utah, and the sand dunes of Dubai.

The new boxy Defender has been designed and developed in the UK, at Gaydon but will be manufactured in Nitra, Slovakia. Although the carmaker says that the official reveal will happen sometime later this year, there are reports of the September reveal either at the Frankfurt Motor Show or at a standalone event. More details will be revealed in the coming few weeks.