Lincs Pride JANUARY 234.qxp 30/11/2021 11:26 Page 126
MOTORS
The 4x4 that’s going back to
Where It All Began
If Land Rover’s new Defender is a little too modern for your tastes, what about Jim Ratcliffe’s new love letter to the famous off-roader? It’s now available to order at Lincolnshire’s Chandlers... and we were invited to a special VIP preview at the dealership! BEING WEALTHY definitely has its advantages. Say your favourite car has been discontinued, and the new model just doesn’t excite you. Most of us could do little about that, but Sir James ‘Jim’ Ratcliffe isn’t most people: he’s the richest man in the UK, worth £21bn and has interests in chemicals, industry and finance. He also has a favourite pub, The Grenadier Arms in London’s Belgravia, and it was in that very pub that the billionaire was decrying the loss of a proper Land Rover Defender. 126
A pint or two, some pork scratchings and a game of darts later, he thought that as he can’t buy one... he’ll just make one, instead. Doubtless the new Land Rover Defender is a phenomenal car, but it’s pricy, electronic and a world away from the original. Not that the original was without its flaws; it was crude, uncomfortable and wouldn’t cope with being upgraded to adhere to increasingly stringent crash or emissions standards, let alone electrification. Jim Ratcliffe’s new Ineos Grenadier, then, is rather more faithful to the formula of the original Defender.
