A Chinese Automaker Tried—And Failed—To Copy Range Rover’s Viral Stair Climb

In 2018, Range Rover went viral after driving a Range Rover Sport up the 999 steps to China’s Heaven’s Gate. As of this writing, the seven-year-old video has 6.7 million views and remains one of the automaker’s most memorable ads of all time.

Not to be outdone by the British, China’s Chery attempted to recreate the stunt with its own Fulwin X3L SUV—a new hybrid off-roader that bears more than a passing resemblance to current Land Rover and Range Rover models and produces up to 422 horsepower in the right configuration.

With that in mind, Chery took a bright yellow Fulwin X3L to the base of Heaven’s Gate to promote its new SUV. Unlike Range Rover’s successful attempt, however, Chery’s climb ended in spectacular failure.

Ground-level video shows the Fulwin X3L making it about halfway up a staircase before beginning to struggle. The driver floors the accelerator in an effort to reach the next landing, but the SUV slides backward down the steps and slams into a large section of the barrier, sending debris over the cliff’s edge.

Unsurprisingly, Chery failed to replicate Range Rover’s viral moment. The company quickly issued a public apology, saying that the November 12 test was “interrupted due to an unexpected incident, which has attracted widespread attention”—likely not the kind of attention it had hoped for.

According to the automaker, a safety-rope issue caused the mishap. The rope reportedly detached and became tangled in one of the SUV’s wheels, leading to a loss of power that sent the Fulwin sliding back down the staircase.

If you’re not familiar, Heaven’s Gate is a significant historical landmark in China. Its ancient staircase is centuries old, which leads to the 1,700-year-old Tianmen Cave. Needless to say, Chery has some apologizing to do.