Grenadier plans

Billionare businessman Jim Ratcliffe plans to build a new 4x4 off-road car to be a successor to the discontinued Land Rover Defender, once one of the favourite cars on the tracks of Bahrain before its major road infrastructure development.

He has claimed that he could create 10,000 jobs and has lobbied the British Government for financial assistance to help build it in the UK.

Mr Ratcliffe, chairman and chief executive Ineos, said the petrochemicals company he founded would invest £600 million in developing its first car, and could then develop other off-roaders, including a pick-up truck.

Mr Ratcliffe said that he would like to build a manufacturing facility in the UK but could look elsewhere. He is to make a decision within the year. The company has dubbed the plan ‘Projekt Grenadier’ after the London pub where Mr Ratcliffe and his friends dreamt up the idea two years ago while lamenting the demise of the Defender.

At a recent launch event, Mr Ratcliffe, who owns four Defenders, denied that the plan was a ‘pet project’, insisting that it would be commercially viable. “You don’t spend £600 million on a nostalgic dalliance,” he said.

He claimed that Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to stop making the Defender, the last of which rolled off the production line last year, had left a ‘gaping hole in the automotive market’.

The project name had been spelt with a K in a nod to the fact it intended to use German engineering to ensure the car was ‘reliable’. He promised a ‘step change in the quality of the vehicle’.

Mr Ratcliffe said that he hoped that the car would be priced at about £35,000 (BD17,500) and was confident of selling 25,000 vehicles a year, with the first due to be made by the end of 2020. It plans petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid models and would be an ‘uncompromising’ and ‘cool’ off-roader.

“Maybe it’s a little bit arrogant for a chemical company to think it can produce a world-class 4x4 but I think we have the confidence we can manufacture things,” he said.

His constant references to the Land Rover, however, might throw up one major obstacle. He casually name-dropped the Jaguar Land Rover car, talking about producing ‘its spiritual successor’ and ‘having its DNA’ but the Indian-owned and Coventry-based company is unlikely to happily hand over a space in the market it once dominated.

The British vehicle, developed from the original Land Rover Series, launched in 1948. A continuous run of 68 years production finally ended in January 2016, as reported in MotoringWeekly.

Jaguar Land Rover announced its intention to launch a replacement new Defender, which motoring journalists speculate will be different from the original version. It is reportedly due to enter production in 2019.