Jim Ratcliffe, Billionaire CEO of Ineos Petrochemical corporation, has plans to pick up where Land Rover left off. After the discontinuation of the original Defender, Mr. Ratcliffe, announced his plans to make a modern “rugged off-roader, which is unbreakable, goes anywhere and does not have the reliability problems of the old Defender.”
He would know about the latter. He has gone on safari in Africa several times, always in Defenders, but confesses that he “always brings a picnic basket” to make the best of breakdowns along the way.
The plan was hatched where all surefire hits are: At the pub, after a few pints. But his goals are not only to revive a spiritual hard-core off-road successor to the Defender, but also to revive the automotive manufacturing industry in Britain. This is not the first time there has been a rumor of Mr. Ratcliffe resurrecting the Defender. Six months after the last one rolled off the assembly line in Solihull, there were reports that he was in discussion to buy the intellectual property or parts of the production line of the original Defender from Jaguar Land Rover. Aside from the fact that he wants to build a rough and tough permanent off-roader from England, he is also concerned the upcoming new Defender from JLR will be a watered down “Chelsea Tractor” like the rest of the current Land Rover lineup, more style than substance. And while modern Land Rovers can hold their own on an off road course, they are not as hardcore as the Defender. Mr. Ratcliffe does seem to have deep enough pockets and the engineering resources to do what we would all love to see – bring back the original Defender. But with production starting in 2020 at the earliest, still the best way to get a Defender is buy an imported Land Rover Defender for sale.