On July 11 reports emerged of the plans of British
billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to resurrect
the iconic Land Rover Defender that went out of production in January.
Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals giant Ineos, had been in
talks with Jaguar Land Rover about possibly purchasing the Defender’s
intellectual property rights or some of its tooling in order to restart
production.
But with Land Rover planning a
modern Defender for 2018, those talks didn’t progress very far.
Nevertheless, Ratcliffe and his team at Ineos remain determined
to build a vehicle that can fill the void left by the Defender’s exit from the
market.
Speaking with Auto Express, Ineos
executive Tom Crotty said Ratcliffe is looking to build a vehicle that
“captures the essence of the Defender,” but is unrelated to the Land Rover
icon. Crotty went on to explain that the proposed vehicle would match the
Defender’s look and off-road capability but skip its shortcomings, which the
Ineos exec described as drivability, emissions and safety related.
source: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1105070_new-details-on-british-billionaires-plan-to-build-defender-like-suv
by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
http://www.boscheuropean.com
The team at Ineos is still researching whether the project
is feasible and should have a better idea by December. If production is
approved, Crotty said the vehicle could be ready within two or three years.
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