When Range Rover Climbed a Mountain—One Step at a Time

Some campaigns found traction in pixels. Others climbed literal mountains.

Range Rover turned the idea of a product demo into a cinematic feat—both gravity-defying and brand-defining. The Dragon Challenge wasn’t a scene from a Fast & Furious film. It became a calculated, televised risk meant to turn eyeballs into believers.

The mission: ascend the infamous 999 steps of Tianmen Mountain in China—at a 45-degree incline—using a Range Rover Sport Plug-in Hybrid. Before the climb even began, the vehicle faced the 11.3 km Dragon Road, a zigzagging stretch of 99 hairpin bends carved into the cliffs.

At the wheel stood Le Mans-winning driver Ho-Pin Tung. The vehicle came equipped with Land Rover’s Terrain Response system and optional off-road tyres. No modifications. No retakes. Just four wheels, a battery, and 297 bhp of storytelling.

The ascent pushed the car’s engineering to its edges. With each step, metal met stone. Torque handled gravity. Grip refused to surrender. And as it reached the summit—beneath Heaven’s Gate arch—an SUV had officially outdone the stunt world.

This became more than PR. It served as proof. Range Rover never relied on specs alone—it performed them. The message stretched far beyond torque ratios or hybrid claims. It became a metaphor: where others showed features, Range Rover showed faith. In its product. In the audience. In risk.

Every frame of that climb signalled something greater—boldness moved markets.

The Dragon Challenge rewrote the rules of product demonstration. It fused ambition with precision and stitched emotion into engineering. Range Rover didn’t build a campaign. It built a legend—step by step, 999 times.