Did you know that Land Rover has built and delivered almost a million Discovery’s already? They are celebrating the milestone of the one millionth Discovery built at its Solihull plant this month. To make this moment more memorable, this model will set off on a special fundraising mission that takes it from Birmingham in UK to Beijing in China on this 8000-mile trip. This expedition will take 50 days to accomplish and is expected to run across 13 countries. It will raise funds of up to £1million to be used by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. This April, the landmark Discovery will be shown in China ahead of the Beijing motor show in April. This considered a major move for Land Rover when considering the quick rise in popularity in the country.
All types of terrains will be tested. It actually follows the direction that will be taken by 1955 ‘ First Overland Expedition’, where a group of Land Rover engineers drove a Defender from Birmingham to Beijing. Land Rover has termed the 2012 unit as the ‘Journey of Discovery’. To start the journey, Land Rover brought along popular objects like the Bear Grylls, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Ray Mears.
The arrival of the one millionth Discovery comes 23 years after the first model was built. It continues to reap success. In fact, Land Rover sold 45,000 units in 170 worldwide markets in one category. Land Rover is in the process of getting an extra 1000 new staff members at Solihull. Land Rover is in the process of recruiting an extra 1000 new staff at Solihull over the next six months, boosting its workforce to 6000.
