Whether the mission is an overland adventure on distant shores, or navigating the kerbstones of traffic-ridden towns closer to home, chances are you have seen it being done in a Land Rover Discovery. So popular are these workday yet refined 4x4s that one million Discoveries have now been manufactured, all in Britain. Sustained demand at home, and exciting growth in emerging markets such as China, has meant that the Solihull production line continues to enjoy a full order book and has even increased employment in the West Midlands area.
In order to celebrate what this means not just for the local and domestic economy, but for some of the most intrepid adventures, where the Discovery played a key role, a unique challenge has been launched, with the full support of some pioneers who have taken advantage of its unique qualities to help them on their way.
Ben Saunders, Ray Mears Monty Halls, Bear Grylls and Sir Ranulph Fiennes recently got together, with the millionth Land Rover Discovery to wish it on its way as it set off on an epic of its own, around 8000 miles to China. The fund-raising expedition will highlight the work of the Red Cross, for whom of course the Discovery is an integral part of its mercy missions that it carries out all over the world. The ‘Journey of Discovery’ starts from its birthplace in Birmingham, where the Solihull plant is one of Jaguar Land Rover’s three British manufacturing facilities, and will finish at the Beijing Motor Show on 23rd April. Fifty days and over a dozen countries later, this Discovery hopes to have raised £1 million for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
This fourth generation Discovery is the grandchild of its parent launched twenty three years ago, bridging the gap between the luxurious Range Rover and the rugged Land Rover Defender. This is truly a car for the world, winning over two hundred awards across the 170 countries where it is distributed. The ‘Journey of Discovery’ follows in the tyre tracks of ‘The First Overland Expedition’ of 1955, in which a team in Series 1 Land Rovers set out from Birmingham to Beijing. Whilst the original expedition had to divert to Singapore, this vehicle’s route will have no obstacles, being welcome in all its major markets including the UK, Russia and China.
This fundraiser echoes that of 2008 where, as part of Land Rover’s 60th Anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the Royal Charter being granted to The British Red Cross by HM King Edward VII, the company donated sixty vehicles to the charity – half in the UK and half globally. Proceeds from this particular campaign will fund a water sanitation project in Uganda. Benefitting 45,000 people, Land Rover recognises it as its most ambitious fundraising project ever.
The positive impact it has had on the British landscape is also highlighted by this initiative, after its recent recruitment of 1000 employees. At the launch, Alan Volkaerts, Operations Director, Solihull Operations mentioned that many employees had worked there from the first to the millionth vehicle, saying ‘they have done a brilliant job, and have displayed great dedication and service. These are the men and women who have made the Discovery the success story it is today. The success of the Discovery alongside other Land Rover models has helped to create a positive momentum at the company’s Solihull operations. The facility now employs around 6,000 people following a recruitment drive launch six month ago, boosting the workforce by 20 percent to support its expansion plans’.
The benefit of the Land Rover Discovery is felt nowhere more clearly than on our own doorstep. The seven-seater vehicle, which can drive in sand as well as it can in snow thanks to its Terrain Response System is particularly beloved of the school run, where indomitable parents navigate treacherous traffic and calamitous kerb stones on a daily basis.