Range Rover Hybrids cross Russia on Silk Trail 2013 expedition

The Range Rover Hybrid (pictured) in Russia on the Silk Trail expedition

The new Range Rover Hybrid (and the Range Rover Sport Hybrid) will be arriving in Land Rover Showrooms in the New Year after their debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week. Currently, ahead of the final production hybrids being signed-off, Land Rover are, as we’ve already reported, busy driving the Silk Trail to Mumbai to put the Range Rover Hybrids through their paces and iron out any problems that crop up.

The first stage of the Silk Trail 2013 trek was mainly across Europe where, although urban landscapes tested the hybrid’s economy and flexibility, there wasn’t too much in the way of challenging terrain to make sure the hybrid Range Rover was up to muster.

But that’s all changed in the last week with the hybrids heading across Russia and encountering everything from chalky dirt tracks between Sevastopol and Yalta, stretches of deep sand on the Crimean Peninsula and open prairies and grasslands in the Kalmykiya region.

The trio of Range Rover hybrids have now covered 4,250 miles of the 10,000 mile trek to Mumbai in 15 days and have reached the city of Astrakhan in eastern Russia, with the next step being the deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and then  into Kyrgyzstan for another 2,000 miles as they head to Asia.

So far, the Range Rover Hybrids have proved as capable as their more conventionally powered siblings, with the only problems reported so far being a chipped windscreen and a flat tyre.

By Cars UK