Firm pledges to invest ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ to set up automotive division in UK to make 4x4 vehicles

The chemicals group Ineos has insisted its plan to build an off-road vehicle to succeed the Land Rover Defender is not a vanity project driven by its billionaire founder and chairman Jim Ratcliffe.

Ineos will set up a new division, Ineos Automotive, and expects to spend “many hundreds of millions” on developing a 4x4 vehicle that could fill the gap in the market left by the Defender, which has been discontinued by Jaguar Land Rover.

The company is focused on manufacturing and distributing chemicals, oil and gas, but Ratcliffe is a self-confessed admirer of the Defender.

Ineos wants to sell the vehicle for less than £50,000 and will aim it at farmers, foresters, explorers and enthusiasts. The company is looking to manufacture the off-roader in the UK – although it is also considering options in Europe – with the first cars potentially available from 2020. Ineos Automotive could employ up to 1,000 people if the venture is successful.

Tom Crotty, a director at Ineos, said the company had conducted a six-month feasibility study into the project – which considered two major issues – before committing to building the vehicle.



“One was if its possible to manufacture a traditional off-roader that meets global regulations, and we believe that answer to that is yes,” he said. “Then it was how feasible would it be to manufacture this vehicle from scratch at a cost that we could sell it to the target market.

“We are clearly one of the biggest UK manufacturers. We believe the practices of good manufacturing apply whatever you are making, but we are not so arrogant that we think we have nothing to learn, so we are out hiring people from the industry.

“We are committed to qualify for UK manufacturing. Jim has a real passion and belief that we [the UK] have lost a lot of the manufacturing bases. That is not a good thing long-term for any country.

“He is very committed to that and sees this as another way to achieve that. It is not a vanity project. There must be a lot of people like this [who like the Defender] who can’t buy the car anymore, so we think there is a market.”

However, industry analysts warned that Ineos faced stiff competition in the 4x4 market from Toyota, but also Jaguar Land Rover, which is repurposing old Defenders and intends to launch a new model in 2019.

David Bailey, professor of industry at Aston University, said: “There may be a small niche market for certain uses and for fans of extreme off-road driving, but there is already quite a lot of competition.

“It is not clear to me if the business case stacks up. I am sceptical as to whether it is viable, but having said that there are a lot of niche sports car companies in the UK at the moment.

“Making cars is more difficult than people realise. You need to design the car, build the supply chain, build your brand, and then make the car itself and develop an assembly line.”

Ratcliffe was quoted in Ineos’s announcement about the project saying that he was a “great admirer of the old Land Rover Defender” and has “enormous respect for its off road capability”.

“Our new 4 x4 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,” he said.

In January 2016, the last Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull plant in the West Midlands.



The Defender, which first appeared in the aftermath of the second world war, was originally conceived as a no-frills, off-road vehicle marketed as a “go anywhere” option. The Defender name was introduced in 1990.



More than 2m were built and its rugged design has ensured that an estimated two-thirds of Defenders and their predecessors are still on the road.



After ceasing production of new Defenders, Jaguar Land Rover launched a heritage vehicle restoration line, repurposing old Defenders, at its Solihull plant.

