Land Rover is celebrating the new Defender as the next Chapter of a legend. However, for men such as Jim Ratcliffe, the story in January 2016 was at an end. Because da is gone after more than 60 years, the last of the Original Band, and with him the last all-terrain vehicles from the old grist and grain. At least in Ratcliffes eyes. But the Briton is not a man for witty Lamentos, but one who also wants to change the course of the world and the story-rewrite how you like it. Not in vain he has made of the darbenen chemistry division of the Oil company BP within 25 years of Ineos as one of the world’s largest chemical company and become a billionaire. One of the alleged ten billion pounds, making him one of the richest men in the Empire, has put Ratcliffe in a new adventure that takes after four years of planning, so to slowly take shape: His own car – the Ineos Grenadier.
The start exactly where the old Defender has ceased to be and therefore looks not only like a copy of the original, but is also constructed in the same way. Where Land Rover for ground a lot of edges, on a self-supporting body changed and the wheels are individually suspended, to be four-wheel drive in the Alukleid edgy as ever on the lead frame, under the traditional rigid axles are screwed.
Because the Grenadier is not intended as a toy for the Lifestyle-company, but a tool, with the adventurers, and workers through thick and thin to come, says Ratcliffes of the German Automotive in-chief Dirk Heilmann. A car, the looks of all the modern technology in Spite of only rustic, but also easy to repair is. Only with a sledgehammer and a pair of pliers as before though, will not be, the British. And also on the side you will be able to the Grenadier, unlike the Willys Jeep the Service in the Steppe harmless. But a bit of electronics will need the British for the approval of the necessary safety and assistance systems, and, of course, the Grenadier with the digital instruments and Touchscreen Navigation will come up. But you have to build, for example, is not in vain left and right identical LED headlights, because you can replace them easier and in the Bush are not so many spare parts needs.
70,000 to 80,000 euros for a rustic trip
The concept for the Grenadier comes from Redcliffe, himself an avid adventurer and Defender driver. However, the construction have taken on recognized experts. The development has been directed to the example of Magna Steyr, which also have to build the G-class and the Grenadier on the Maßkonzept of the Mercedes-oriented. The axles of a commercial vehicle manufacturer, from Italy, and the mechanism provides no less than BMW: The three-litre low-emission series and has ordered a six-cylinder X5, and X6, including the eight-speed automatic from ZF Ratcliffee in Munich. And so that nobody doubts the seriousness of his intentions, he makes the order volume is no secret: a high five-digit number of Diesel and petrol engines of the Deal, the attacks from the end of next year, includes. Then to start in Wales, the production, and after a bit start at 25,000 cars a year, tops.
