Chemical firm to pip Land Rover on Defender replacement

Land Rover is taking so long to replace its iconic Defender that someone else is planning to do it first.

Privately-owned Swiss chemical giant, Ineos, insists last year’s disappearance of the British off-roader has left a gap in the market that it intends to plug.

Land Rover has promised to replace the Defender and has been showing concept cars at motor shows around the world for at least five years, but it hasn’t given a firm production date for the new version.

Ineos has never built a concept car before, much less a production car, but it is a world leader in controversial fracking techniques and it does have oil refinery and biodiesel refineries to provide the oil that would inevitably leak out of every orifice of a new “Defender”.

That’s a far cry from the history of Land Rover, which began building the Defender’s forerunner in 1948 and its direct parents, the 90 and the 110, in 1983.

But Ineos told The Guardian that it was ready to invest “many hundreds of millions” of pounds to develop a new hard-core off-road 4X4 to replace the Defender.

“We want to build the world’s purest 4X4 and are aiming it at explorers, farmers and off-road enthusiasts across the globe,” Ineos chairman and 60 per cent stakeholder Jim Ratcliffe said.

The company plans to use an established diesel powertrain, though there is no announcement on what it might be, and is said to prefer a manufacturing plant in northern England.

Ineos has held talks with Land Rover to take over the stamping and tooling for the Defender, but they have not gone anywhere. Unperturbed, Ratcliffe insists the Defender’s age rules out any copyright claims Land Rover might have to the design.

Ineos insisted it would not directly copy the Land Rover’s design, which saw resale values leap around the world after its demise last year, but would use its simplistic philosophy.

The company also wanted to move past the Defender’s sometimes-iffy reputation for reliability, adamant it could “provide a step change improvement in build quality and reliability.

“This is an amazing project for everyone involved,” said the CEO of Ineos Automotive Dirk Heilmann. “Our job is to create the world’s best 4x4 and we are already moving forward with our plans.”

Heilman has no expertise in vehicle design, engineering or manufacture, having moved into the position after being Ineos’ head of engineering and technology, and is busily recruiting from Europe’s car makers.

The fracking technology experts did a six-month feasibility study into the project and intend to sell it globally, particularly aiming at forestry, farming, fishermen, explorers and adventurers as well as Defender owners who “simply enjoy an authentic 4x4 driving experience”.

“I am a great admirer of the old Land Rover Defender and have enormous respect for its off-road capability,” said Ratcliffe. “Our new 4x4 has been inspired by it. But while our off-roader might share its spirit, our new car will be a major improvement on previous models.”

While the Defender badge was only stuck on the Land Rover in 1990, the original Land Rover appeared after the war, when the Willys Jeep had proven the need for an all-weather, all-road, all-wheel drive.

Land Rover ended production after building more than two million Defenders. Jaguar Land Rover has a heritage division at Solihull, England, that continues to restore and rebirth old Defenders.