Land Rover stages over-water stunt to prove vehicle’s strength

British automaker Land Rover put its Discovery Sport’s towing capacity to the test in a dramatic stunt.

The vehicle pulled a train weighing 60 times its own weight along tracks crossing the River Rhine in Switzerland. For those who were not there to witness the feat in person, Land Rover has created a video of the event, giving it the opportunity to wow a larger audience.

Pulling eyes
Land Rover’s video lets consumers follow test driver Karl Richards and James Platt, road to rails conversion strategist, as they embark on their stunt. The film is given an action movie feel with the addition of typed text overlaid on the footage and a suspenseful soundtrack.

The standard Discovery Sport, with only the addition of guidance wheels to keep it on the track, starts up and begins to move along the rails. The car traveled a total of about 6.2 mile with the train cars.

Guidance wheels created specially by Aquarius Railroad Technologies

For its journey, the Discovery Sport used its own drivetrain, with the drivers leveraging the car’s features, such as Terrain Response, Tow Assist, Tow Hitch Assist and All Terrain Progress Control, to maintain the necessary traction and speed.

This proved that the Discovery Sport can do more than its certified maximum towing capacity of 2.5 tons.

“Towing is in Land Rover’s DNA, and despite Discovery Sport being the smallest model in the range, it has proved its exceptional towing capabilities,” Karl Richards, lead engineer for stability control systems.

Drawing attention to its vehicles, Jaguar Land Rover has staged other stunts.

Jaguar gave its followers on social media a sneak preview of the exciting feat it attempted on March 24 to promote the release of its new XF car.

In an attention-grabbing stunt that had been planned for months, Jaguar drove the new XF across a tightrope suspended high above water. The brand released two teaser videos and a number of images to garner excitement before the event, likely inspiring fans around the world to tune into Jaguar’s YouTube channel to watch