Chery has tried to recreate a challenging stunt at the Tianmen Mountain stairway, but just because the car looks like a Land Rover doesn’t mean it is one…
There’s nothing more embarrassing than conducting a public ‘stunt’ to showcase a product’s capabilities, and to have it go spectacularly wrong.
Chinese manufacturer Chery has found this out the hard way as the brand sought to recreate the climb of all 999 steps at the Tianmen Mountain ‘Heaven’s Gate’ rock formation, first achieved in 2018 with a Range Rover Sport hybrid.
The ‘stairway to heaven’ climbs nearly 1000 steps at a 45-degree angle, to the Tianmenshan Temple and natural stone archway at the summit.
This week, a Chery Fulwin X3L SUV attempted the climb, only to dramatically fail at the second set of stairs, rolling back down and destroying a stone guardrail in the process.
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The Chery Fulwin X3L is a range-extender hybrid version of the Chery iCar 03, and features a 115kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine ‘generator’ paired with either a 185kW single motor or 315kW dual-motor electric system.
The boxy design is clearly inspired by the Land Rover Defender 110, but at 4545mm long and 1950mm wide, the X3L is slightly smaller than the Land Rover (5035mm and 1996mm).
It doesn’t match its approach (22-degree Chery vs 30-degree Defender) or departure (30-degree Chery vs 38-degree Defender) angles, yet at 225mm betters the Land Rover ground clearance of 222mm.
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The stunt, performed in front of the public, saw the SUV ascend one flight of the steep stairs, then struggle and eventually roll back on the second set.
Reports note that Chery has issued a statement noting that the attempt failed due to the failure of a shackle securing the vehicle’s safety rope, which then became tangled in the car’s wheel.
Chery has since issued an apology for the stunt’s failure and has committed to repair the damage to the staircase, noting that no one was hurt and “no natural environment was damaged.”
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The Range Rover Sport stunt saw Dutch-born, Chinese race driver Ho-Pin Tung complete the climb, also with a safety cable, at speeds of around 45km/h up the 300m climb.
You can watch that successful video here.
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