Range Rover Sport

Make
Land Rover
Segment
SUV

Jaguar Land Rover has a long history of introducing new cars via some kind of stunt or ad campaign meant to go viral. Sometimes it doesn't go to plan, and ads get banned for silly reasons.

Land Rover went all-out for the introduction of the new Range Rover Sport in what might just be the most dangerous stunt ever attempted in a stock-standard car. It's way more impressive than the F-Pace's loop-the-loop introduction. The stunts performed by the James Bond Defenders were terrific, but Land Rover's latest stunt was literally a life or death situation.

Landy's new film sees it take on The Spillway, and it's meant to showcase how good the new Range Rover Sport is off-road.

While the Sport doesn't need to be good off-road, customers still demand it. These features will likely never be used in the same way that a supercar owner will never reach their car's top speed.

Off-roading is also an integral part of Land Rover's DNA. Even the ridiculous Evoque Convertible had some off-road capabilities. But you couldn't possibly off-road in said Evoque, mainly because even the wildlife would laugh uncontrollably at your car.

But back to the Sport, which comes as standard with the latest version of Terrain Response, a transfer case, a 900-millimeter wading depth, and the ability to clamber up a 45-degree incline.

It's all good and well seeing those figures on paper, but does it translate into real-life ability? If your real life includes driving up a large spillway, it does.

Land Rover transported the new model to a Karahnjukar in Iceland to prove the new Sport's off-road ability. Once there, it would drive up the spillway of the largest hydroelectric power plant in Iceland before a flood of water came down.

The spillway is constantly filled with fast-flowing water, which already presents a challenge.

To make matters worse, the spillway ends in a 90-foot drop roughly 500 feet from the access point. And Land Rover only gave the car 10 minutes to pull it off. If things went wrong, the Sport and its driver would tumble to their demise.

Land Rover needed a pro driver willing to take the plunge (no pun intended), and the job was given to Jessica Hawkins.

It obviously went well, or Land Rover wouldn't have published the footage. The stunt was filmed in one take, and only one GoPro was harmed in the making of the film.

What a way for a luxury off-roader to make an entrance.