• 53 Land Rover retailers from around the U.S. and Canada competed in the Land Rover TReK Qualifying Trials off‑road skills competition at the Land Rover Experience Center at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina
• The Finals competition will be held in January 2020 in Palm Springs, California with teams competing in the new 2020 Land Rover Defender
• The reintroduction of the TReK competition is timed ahead of the return of the  New Defender to the Land Rover brand, expanding the Land Rover lineup to three families of highly‑capable SUVs: Range Rover, Discovery and Defender
• Images from the Land Rover TReK Qualifying Trials can be viewed here

(MAHWAH, N.J.) – October 4, 2019 – Land Rover today announced the eight winning teams of the Land Rover TReK 2020 Qualifying Trials, an off‑road driving skills competition for its North American retailers. The Qualifying Trials took place in September at the Land Rover Experience Center at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

During the competition, 53 three‑person teams – each representing the various sales regions for Land Rover across the U.S. and Canada – competed against each other in head to head team and group challenges. The competition included rock crawling, vehicle maneuverability and team communication, precision vehicle recovery, water fording, as well as a variety of physical and mental trials.

Teams competed in identically customized 2020 Land Rover Discovery SUVs for the Qualifying Trials. The winning teams will head to the TReK Finals held in January 2020 in Palm Springs, California, where they will compete with the new 2020 Land Rover Defender.

The winning retail teams from Land Rover TReK 2020 Qualifying Trials, who will be moving on to the Finals competition are:

• Land Rover Alexandria (Alexandria, Virginia)
• Land Rover Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
• Land Rover Buckhead (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Land Rover Columbia (Columbia, South Carolina)
• Land Rover Edmonton (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
• Land Rover Fairfield (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
• Land Rover Minneapolis (Golden Valley, Minnesota)
• Land Rover Roaring Fork (Glenwood Springs, Colorado)

“We are incredibly proud of our North American retailers for the impressive skills and knowledge displayed during the Land Rover TReK Qualifying Trials,” said Kim McCullough, Vice President of Marketing, Jaguar Land Rover North America. “The winning teams are truly the best of the best when it comes to off‑roading, problem solving and teamwork, and we wish them the best of luck at the Finals in January.”

Land Rover TReK 2020 is designed to educate and challenge sales, service and technician personnel with a variety of first‑hand off‑road experiences and challenges. The competition combines skills testing in off‑road driving, navigation and team collaboration to test some of the best off‑road driving experts across the U.S. and Canada.

The reintroduction of the TReK competition is timed ahead of the return of the Defender to the Land Rover brand. The previous generation model of the Defender ceased global production in 2016 and has been absent from the U.S. market for more than 20 years; last being offered for the 1997 model year. With the launch of the new Defender, the Land Rover product lineup will expand to three families of highly‑capable vehicles: Range Rover, Discovery and Defender.

The original TReK competition was established in 1996 in the image of the iconic Camel Trophy as a U.S. specific activity for the retailer network to bolster their off‑road expertise in one day of immersive off‑roading. From 1996 through 2003 these annual competitions were held across the country. In 2001, following five years of success in North America, TReK expanded its influence when the first global TReK competition was held in South Africa. The last Land Rover TReK competition was held in 2003 in Colorado.

For more information about the new Defender – including the opportunity to register your interest– visit LandRoverUSA.com.