Built for the desert

Land Rover has offered a glimpse into the world of prototype testing and development of its new vehicles in the searing summer temperatures of the Gulf region.

Ahead of today’s launch of the new Discovery Sport model, Land Rover has created a series of films with exclusive behind the scenes footage of the rigorous testing each vehicle endures in the extreme desert heat and humid climate conditions of neighbouring UAE.

The films offer an insight into the complexities behind the testing and development of a new vehicle before the general public even know about its existence.

Bruce Robertson, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover in MENA, said: “As the new Discovery Sport enters its final testing phase, Land Rover MENA is incredibly proud to reveal the scale of endurance tests that our vehicles go through right here in the region for our MENA customers.

“Over the past year our global engineers, in conjunction with our Engineering Test Centre team in Dubai, have spent thousands of man hours carrying out a comprehensive range of tests including durability, calibration and hot weather testing for heat and humidity. The team have also tested powertrains, chassis and heating and ventilation systems, as well as the off-road and sand driving capability of Land Rover’s Terrain Response system.

 “Our Land Rover engineering philosophy of regional vehicle testing ensures each and every Land Rover vehicle has proven durability and reliability and can withstand the high temperatures, driving conditions and desert terrain that we experience here in the Middle East.”

The new model will feature optimised volume, proportions and stance with 5+2 seating configurability, making it the world’s finest premium compact SUV, its makers say.

Now sold in 40 dealerships across 17 markets in MENA, Land Rover has expanded regional testing capabilities considerably to meet the needs of its growing customer base in the region; further boosted by the launch last year of an enhanced $1.5 Million state-of-the-art Engineering Test Centre for Land Rover product test engineering in the Middle East region.

John Winchester, JLR Vehicle Engineering operations manager MENA, said: “Our engineering teams are committed and focused on the quality and durability of our products and an important part of this is rigorous environmental testing of our vehicles to ensure they can withstand even the harshest conditions. This region also offers the opportunity to do high ambient temperature testing where road surfaces are extremely smooth; making for some unique challenges and unparalleled testing opportunities.”

For more information on Land Rover, call Euro Motors on 17750750