With its documentary ‘The Road to Civilizations’, the Chinese national broadcasting company CCTV is making a unique contribution to television history. Over a period of five hundred days its crew will visit fifty-four countries, reporting on local art, culture and history. Cadillac has contributed four SRX cars towards the production of this huge project.

By the end of the tour each of the Cadillac SRX cars will have travelled 150,000 kilometres to carry the CCTV crew to fifty-four countries around the world. Up to now they have already collected over two hundred hours of filmed material. The entire project is due for completion in mid-2009.

Estimates indicate that about a billion people will be watching the serial documentary ‘The Road to Civilizations’, and viewers will be treated to fascinating impressions from the countries on the team’s itinerary. Locations in the film are not the usual tourist attractions but places that travellers might not even have thought of visiting.

Shooting began in January of 2007 and will continue non-stop; up to now it has only been interrupted when the cars have been in transport between continents. So to guarantee the project’s success it is essential that the Cadillacs never break down. Crew member Edward Li Feng has been watching them go for over a year now, and he is impressed. “These cars haven’t been modified in any way; they have exactly the same specs as if you’d just picked them up from the dealer. But they have had no trouble whatsoever with the bad roads and difficult conditions we have seen. They’re running great. And they get noticed, too,” says Feng. “With the interesting stickers all over them and their Chinese number plates, they really grab people’s attention. People are always ready to help us, and quick to offer us meals and a place to sleep.”

It is unclear at the moment whether the series will be broadcast outside of China. But the Cadillac SRX itself will definitely be on show in Europe – at Cadillac dealerships.