News : Millionth Discovery celebrated in style

Andrew Elphick

Land Rover has announced it had constructed the millionth Discovery, 23 years after the launch of the original in 1989. Today it is the choice of those who find a Defender just too agricultural, and a Range Rover just a touch ostentatious. From the neat white lined aisles of Waitrose’s car parks, to the 24 hours on call duties of the Mountain rescue, the Discovery is possibly the lone ‘class-less’ Land Rover vehicle. So to celebrate, the staff at Lode Lane witnessed a rather exciting celebration, a spectacle far greater than ever Brummie Jasper Carrott snipping a giant ribbon.

Nope, an Overland expedition it is, with Land Rover’s crack team of engineers and the advice of some rather useful explorers too boot. Yep, 8000 miles, 13 countries in 50 days or less, all in the precious chassis number 1,000,000 all the way to Beijing – not exactly the wilds of nowhere (but undoubtedly a rather bountiful emerging retail market). The inspiration for the 2012 Journey of Discovery comes from the 1955 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition.

However the aim is to raise more than a million pounds for the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross) along the way, of which AROnline heartily approve. Our friends at Land Rover Monthly magazine will be driving a leg of the journey – from the UK to Geneva.

Among the assembled Polar and Bush craft gurus (Mears, Grylls, Halls, Saunders and Fiennes) were long saving employee Frank Nelson Long, and current apprentice of the year Steve Mason, reminding everyone that for every celebrity is an armful of skilled staff at Lode Lane.

For more information on the expedition follow the link:
www.landrover.com/million

 

Keith Adams

8 Comments

  1. Sounds like an Epic road trip!

    The 1st Discovery is still respected by true off roaders (especially when the running boards are removed), even if the latest one is a little too School-Run for the serious muddy stuff.

  2. @ Will M.

    Did you see the episode of Wheeler Dealers when they got hold of a Disco one and made it into a full-on off road thing?
    They cut the front bumper, fitted a Safari Snorkel and gave it side exhausts…then forgot to take the running boards off. Doh!

    Thanks for the article Keith…some great pictures there as well.

  3. I initially misread the text and thought it was referring to an ‘Oxford to Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition’ which should have been well within their capabilities!

  4. Read in Autocar this week that JLRs profit margins are 20%. Massively higher than the industry norm, eclipsing even Porsche.

  5. Fantastic news from one of my favourite vehicles. I still remember with fondness when the first Land Rover Discovery was unveiled back in the autumn of 1989 commanding an on-the-road price of £15,750.

    I still love the Discovery in all its guises even though it has become even more expensive and luxurious, making it out of my league.

    This good news for the heritage of this very popular vehicle and also Jaguar Land Rover’s profits.

  6. I drove a Disco in the early 2000s. All I remember is a tremendous turbo-diesel roar- the volume of which didn’t seem to have any correlation with the speed the thing was actually achieving. And the damn thing made everyone sat in really quite seasick…

  7. ive got a discovery v8 1995 appart from some problems its had of late ive been well happy with it. It handles well on raod and its good off road too, its nice and quiet to travel in. being AWD even on road and pushing it reasonably hard it hangs on to the road well. Great Work Land Rover! alex

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