.........  as Renault Trucks arrive in Beijing

After two months of tracing the tracks of Marco Polo, the eight Renault trucks have today completed their incredible 12,500 mile (20,000 km) Silk Road adventure from Lyon to Beijing.

In what proved to be both an exceptional technical challenge and a unique human adventure, on April 2nd 2005 employees of Renault Trucks took to the steering wheels of eight Renault Kerax and Sherpa trucks to cross some of the world’s most treacherous terrain.  The route crossed Europe, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and finally in to China.

The sixteen men and women, who throughout the year are normally involved in manufacturing the Renault Trucks vehicles, were offered the unique challenge of taking on the Silk Road in the vehicles they helped build.  They were joined on some stages of the journey by renowned rally stars, such as Elisabete Jacinto, who provided valuable driving advice when encountering tough conditions.

Terrain included the spectacular and rugged Cappadocia and Mount Ararat in Turkey, the Lut desert in Iran, and the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, where some parts were more like stages on the Paris-Dakar Rally.

The convoy encountered wild horses in the desert of Uzbekistan, sandstorms in Dunhuang, and blizzards as they reached altitudes of 3700m in Kyrgyzstan. Despite constant problems with visas and border entries, fortunately just one truck was delayed by a day as it was missing one piece of paperwork crossing from Iran into Turkmenistan. And, the only difficulty in obtaining fuel came in Iran - one of the most oil-rich counties in the world!

Finally on their journey into China they crossed through the legendary Torugart pass and the Taklamakan Desert, meaning ‘the land of no return,’ towards Jiayugan, across the remains of the Great Wall of China, completing their journey as they reached the great city of Beijing.

The convoy of Renault Trucks will now remain in China on a tour to promote the company’s joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Motors group which created the commercial subsidiary Renault Trucks China.

The Silk Road adventure was a real-life demonstration and test of the robustness and sheer endurance of the Renault Kerax.  

Euan Harron, Marketing Director of Renault Trucks UK commented: “It was great to see that the expedition had made it safely to China. The Silk Road adventure has been a fantastic achievement. Everything appeared to go more or less to plan, and the trucks have suffered no problems. It’s a great demonstration of Renault Trucks product quality and reliability.”