New Land Rover Defender rescues truckie
A pair of Defender 110s on a media trip have saved the life of a truck driver stuck in the Namibian desertHow many Land Rover Defenders does it take to haul a Scania big-rig out of an African desert?
Not a trick question – the answer is two!
After being stranded in the Namib Desert in Africa for three days, a truckie has been rescued by a Land Rover media team.
The crew stumbled across the marooned semi-trailer livestock truck during a video shoot in Namibia, where the new Defender 110 was being put through the wringer ahead of the long-lead press launch of the vehicle in the same location late next month.
The Angolan driver had been stranded in the remote desert of south west Africa for three days with little to eat and drink and no communications to call for help.
As well as rescuing the truckie, a pair of new Land Rover Defender 110s (connected via snatch ropes) managed to extricate the truck and its payload from the dry riverbed as well.
With a claimed towing capacity of 3500kg apiece, it's fair to say the Defenders exceeded their official towing capacity. Not bad considering grip levels on the sand were less than ideal.
Footage of the rescue was posted to Facebook by Damian Blakemore, one of carsales.com.au's regular shooters and the creative genius behind on the lens on many of our big projects, such as Best of British (part one and two), Forza Alfa Romeo and Made in Japan.
"International Rescue, New Defender style," wrote Blakemore on his Facebook post.
"The driver and his truck had been stuck in this dry riverbed for three days, miles from anywhere. What a car! What a team!"
The all-new Land Rover Defender 110 five-door arrives in Australia in June, priced from $69,990, while the shorter Defender 90 three-door model will lob in October, with pricing to be confirmed.
The born-again British 4WD will be offered with a couple of 2.0-litre of turbo-diesel engines (147kW/430Nm and 177kW/430) and a big 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol (297kW/550Nm) with mild hybrid tech.
Watch this space for our first drive from the global launch in the UK next month.
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