A Chery SUV tried to imitate a feat by Land Rover last Wednesday (12), but ended up destroying a historical monument in China.
The protagonist of this incident was a Chery Fulwin X3L, which attempted to climb the 999 steps of the Stairway to Heaven, leading to the Heaven’s Gate, located in the Tianmen Mountain National Park, in the northwestern region of Hunan Province, China.
However, during the climb, one of the safety cables got tangled in the front wheel, causing the vehicle to fall, according to Chery. In the fall, the SUV damaged part of the historic staircase.
The Chery Fulwin X3L remained at the crash site for at least two hours before being removed. As a result, the attraction was closed to visitors for at least two days.
The incident occurred during Chery‘s attempt to imitate Land Rover, which successfully drove a Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid up the 999 steps of the Stairway to Heaven to Heaven’s Gate in 2018.
Chery publicly apologized for the incident, stating that it did not adequately assess the risks of the operation during the planning and execution stages. The company has now announced that it will cover the costs of repairing the staircase.
The Chinese automaker Chery Automobile apologized for an incident that occurred during a test at the Tianmen Mountain tourist area in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, central China.
In the incident, a Chery Fulwin X3L Resilience lost traction and slid… pic.twitter.com/7ZOzAG3BLk
— Área Militar (@areamilitarof) November 13, 2025
Photo and video: X @areamilitarof. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
