The 1,000,000th Land Rover Discovery has been produced at the Soliull plant in Birmingham, and we were there to put the finishing touches to the car on the production line and take it for a quick spin, before it was presented to the entire factory workforce.
To mark this epic milestone the landmark car will set off on an 8,000-mile 50-day journey today, from its birthplace in Birmingham to Land Rover’s biggest-growing market in Beijing, and Auto Express has a special role to play. The core driving crew will be four off-road experts from the Land Rover Experience, but we’ll be joining the expedition for the last leg, which arrives in Beijing on April 23 – just in time for the Beijing Motor Show.
Video: Watch highlights from the Land Rover event
The purpose of the journey is three-fold; to demonstrate the Discovery’s unparalleled durability, to retrace the steps of ‘The First Overland Expedition’ in 1955 - when a team of Series 1 Land Rovers set out from Birmingham to Beijing (but had to divert to Singapore instead because of political reasons) – and thirdly to raise money for charity.
Land Rover is targeting an ambitious fundraising total of £1,000,000 for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The money will be used to support a water sanitation project in Uganda, and you can already make a donation at www.landrover.com/million.
To mark the occasion, Land Rover invited along a selection world-renowned explorers and self-confessed fans of the brand. These included Sir Ranulph Fiennes – the world’s most experienced living explorer, and celebrity survival experts Bear Grylls and Ray Mears.
Fiennes told us what made Land Rovers so special: “The only thing that used to go wrong was broken half-shafts. We would call ahead and get a new one parachuted in, and off we went again. You could use a coffee pot for a piston head – back then even a fool could fix one.”
Grylls is the proud owner of a 1974 Series 3, and explained why he chose Land Rovers for behind the scenes work on his TV show: “Land Rovers are synonymous with adventure – in tough moments you want something that’s rugged and reliable and that’s exactly what they are.”
We asked Ray Mears what his ideal off-roader would be like: “It would need to be comfortable with a good turning circle. In harsh wet climates a good heating and drying system is essential. It also needs to be easy to modify so you can tailor it to your precise needs – perhaps this is something that could be embraced even further with the new Defender.”
We’ll be bringing you regular updates and video diaries from the team as they travel through 13 countries en route to Beijing – through some of the most wild and remote regions on the planet.
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i would like to congratulate land rover on its 1 millionth discovery. i used to live in the hall green area of brum and had the honour of building these vehicles just before the break up of the rover group. i still rate these vehicles very highly. keep up the good work solihull, long live the discovery and the brand, best 4x4 by far. well done
Great to see a great British company like Land Rover doing well these days that employes a lot of Brits, its understated, underrated legendary rugged durability and reliability over the years can only be attributed to the highly skilled British workforce at Solihull. Well done lads lets hit 2 million soon.
Land Rover winning for Britain
Sorry to be pedantic, but that can't be the 1,000,000th Discovery. Look on the interior photo - it doesn't have the rotary gear selector that all new Discos have. Anyway, who cares - congratulations to Land Rover for making what is possibly the most versatile car in the world. It's brilliant.
To the individual that stated "that can't be 1 millionth Discovery because it doesn't have the rotary gear selector" please do your homework first the rotary gear selector is fitted to 8 speed gearboxes where as the 6 speed still has the traditional stick type. WELL DONE ANY WAY LADS. TOP EFFORT.
1 million rusting, unreliable pieces of junk.
Land Rover routed to the bottom of the Which reliability surveys @ 55% failure rate, I think rogerslade is correct here. That is a lot of half-shafts.
I own a Range Rover V8 Vogue & it's THE most unreliable car I have ever owned. They will be lucky to get out the factory gates before it breaks down. I've been on the back of the AA recovery truck 3 times in the past 6 months & repairs have cost me £3,000+! The last one the water pump sheared (common fault) cost £1,097.58p to fix with no courtesy car! This many faults on a car which has cost over £25,000 in garage bills in the past 5 years. Some faults the car has like suspension knocking can't be fixed by the main agent. Absolute rubbish, I would never buy another.
Took mine from UK to Bulgaria and back towing a huge trailer without a problem ...just a huge fuel bill!! The new ones are well worth their status of class leader, simply brilliant machines and totally comfortable..
@ Glideman shows how much you know if you think water pumps are just a problem on land rovers, they are a common problem on every engine.. over £1000 for a job that takes no more than 2 hours?... £100 for parts and coolant + £400 a hour labour....A TOTAL RIP OFF
@liverpool You own a land rover yet know nothing about them? The water pump alone was £150 the coolant £56 + the main agent destroyed the viscous fan + pulley removing it. This is the service you get if you own a land rover. Go on any land rover forum & read loads of complaints from customers. I've owned two so far & both must have been made on Friday afternoon. Some say land rover only makes cars on Friday afternoon. If you do buy one you need very deep pockets, the fuel is a small percentage of ownership & the V8 Range Rover does 8-10 around town & 16-19 on a motorway run if driven gently. I keep records of all the costs with my cars & so far not including the usual costs of tax & petrol the car has cost £250+ per month!
Defender Discovery 300TDi Water Pump & Gasket ...£29.50