Imagine being in the oil exploration business, and (of course) using tough long wheelbase 4WDs to get into and out of remote and inhospitable places as a matter of course.
Imagine owning a group of companies based on this work. Using big, gnarly Land Rover Defenders as a mainstay of the transport pool. Electronic gewgaws and lane-change/lane keep assists are less of a priority than a robust pair of live axles and a strong ladder chassis.
Imagine reading in Autocar that these tough trucks were to be replaced by the modern Defender.
Then imagine heading on over to Solihull to ask if you can buy the tooling to continue producing the old Defender.
Imagine being a Land Rover manager and telling one of the richest men in the world “sorry old chap, can’t do that, trying to rule a line under the old beastie”. Phew.
Jim Ratcliffe, the chief of Ineos, reckoned there was still a niche for a hardcore body-on-chassis 4WD.
Even better, the highpressure development timing would enable the company to correct the many foibles that gave the old Defender its ‘character’. Developed from scratch and apparently sketched out in concept on a napkin or five at a London pub called the Grenadier it would be a clean sheet
