Mercedes is taking 33 diesel E-Class cars on a long-distance drive from Paris to Beijing, each covering around 13,600km. The long-distance journey from Europe to Asia passes through France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Kazakhstan before ending in China. During this time, the cars will have to deal with very low temperatures, ice, snow and short hours of daylight.

Absolving the daily stages of up to 750km through sometimes unpassable areas, under unusual traffic conditions and crossing passes at altitudes of up to 2,900m will be the ultimate test of whether Mercedes reliability is back up to their old standards.

It will also test the concentration, experience and fitness of the approximately 330 drivers from 35 nations, who will take turns at the wheel during the five 1,900 to 3,400km stages of the event.

We came across some of the photos from the trip and they look truly stunning.