The Red Cross and Red Crescent have tested the 2020 Land Rover Defender in Dubai to coincide with the renewal of Land Rover’s global relationship with Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Dating back to 1954, Land Rover has been the vehicle of choice for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and this week that relationship was renewed. Land Rover engineers and “all-terrain experts” from the IFRC put prototype Defenders through their paces across sand dunes and up the twisty Jebel Jais highway in Dubai.
Land Rover said, “The test in Dubai coincides with the renewal of Land Rover’s global partnership with the IFRC – a relationship that dates back 65 years, to 1954, when the first specially adapted Land Rover entered service in the region as a mobile dispensary. This year marks the humanitarian organisation’s centenary as it celebrates ‘100 Years of Hope’. Over the next three years, Land Rover will support disaster preparedness and response initiatives in locations including India, Mexico and Australia”.
Speaking at the test, Ilir Caushaj, IFRC’s Team Lead for Global Fleets and Logistics, said: “We operate in some of the most hard-to-reach places on earth, often working in very difficult terrain, so our teams have to be able to cope with anything. That’s why we’re proud to have partnered with Land Rover since 1954, and to be putting their new Defender to the test, as together they help us reach vulnerable communities in crisis, whoever and wherever in the world they are.”
The all-new Defender is expected to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
