Latest technology of Range Rover car tackle toughest roads on China's steep Tianmen Mountain

Do you dare to sit in it and drive in the mountain?

Range Rover Sport has recently launched a new product capable of climbing stairs to Heaven instead of passing through every steep hairpin turn and thousands of steps by walking.

The car has been shown in one of China’s most revered national landmarks, Tianmen Mountain in Hunan Province, to tackle the most challenging and twisting highways.

The car is with a British Engine P400e plug-in hybrid, a 4X4 electrical car with five seats. It's also the first SUV in the world that can ascend to the top of the "Heaven's Gate".

Land Rover

Land Rover

Land Rover

There are 99 treacherous hairpins in seven-mile Tianmen Mountain Road from the bottom and 999 steps at the finale to be finished. The final stairs are 45-degree steep. 

A same kind of challenge has been finished with Panasonic Jaguar Formula-E using under 23 minutes and Ho-Pin Tung is the test driver of this Range Rover Sport PHEV petrol-electric SUV.

Land Rover

Land Rover

Land Rover

Land Rover

The diver was warned the fear was "crazy" and one Chinese official said, "If he crashes, he will die."

But he finally finished the challenge, saying "I'm still shaking. The adrenalin is something I’ve never experienced before. The mountain very generously gave us one shot to make it up here."

"I've experienced Formula E, Formula 1 and won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but this was without doubt one of the most demanding driving challenges I’ve ever faced, he added. "The Range Rover Sport PHEV performed brilliantly as it inspired real confidence on the mountain road and climbed the stairs up to Heaven’s Gate effortlessly."

Land Rover

Land Rover

The cost of the vehicle is £70,800. It can run on zero-emission electric power for up to 31 miles and be fully charged from the mains in under three hours.

A spokesman for Land Rover said, "A dizzying 99 turns and 999 daunting steps didn’t stop the new Range Rover Sport PHEV from completing a world-first at one of China’s most famous landmarks." 

"This was the hardest Range Rover Sport challenge I’ve ever been involved with because, until we reached the top, we couldn’t categorically say we would succeed," Land Rover Experience expert Phil Jones said. "By making it to the summit, we’ve proven the phenomenal capability of the Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid like never before – with a genuine world first."

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The European Union risks entering an “economic cold war” with China, Hungary's prime minister said on Friday, pledging to vote against an EU plan to impose higher tariffs on the import of Chinese electric vehicles.

EU countries are set to vote on Friday whether to finalize the tariffs, part of a broader trade dispute over Chinese government subsidies and Beijing’s burgeoning exports of green technology to the 27-nation bloc.

The tariffs are expected to pass the vote. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that his country will oppose them, and warned that Europe's tendency toward economic protectionism would destroy the EU's economy.

“What they're making us do, what the European Union is doing, is an economic cold war,” Orbán told state radio. “This is the worst thing that can happen to Europe. ... If this continues, the European economy will die,” he said.

The EU in July imposed the provisional tariffs of up to 37.6% on EVs made in China, saying they unfairly benefit from government subsidies. Beijing, in response, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization in August, saying the tariffs violate WTO rules and undermine global cooperation on climate change.

China also launched retaliatory investigations into French cognac exports and European pork in what some analysts fear could develop into an economically harmful trade war with the EU.

Hungary under Orbán has pursued close ties with China and Russia while its Western partners increasingly seek to distance their economies from those countries. Moscow's war in Ukraine and fears that a flood of inexpensive Chinese products could disrupt Western markets have accelerated those efforts.

Meanwhile, Hungary has sought major investment from Beijing, opening a series of Chinese EV battery manufacturing plants across the country. Late last year, it announced that BYD, one of China's largest EV makers, will open its first European production factory in southern Hungary.

Orbán on Friday said that EU protectionism represented a “huge danger” to Hungary's export-oriented economy. His government has declared a policy of “economic neutrality” that favors trade with all willing countries regardless of alliances or geopolitical considerations.

He said Western partners including the EU had “attacked” Hungary over its policies in order to “divert it from the path of economic neutrality.”

“What's behind every attack is that they're trying to ... force Hungary into the bloc where they are, where I think there is no growth, no development, no future,” he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a conference at the Ludovika University of Public Service, in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)