Sep 16, 2019

Ratcliffe’s Ineos set to build new car in Wales

Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain's richest men, is close to signing a deal to build a sport utility vehicle in the Welsh town where Ford is closing its factory, potentially offering a lifeline to hundreds of workers and injecting new energy into the UK automotive sector. Talks between Ineos and Ford over the use of its engine site for the car were first reported by the FT last November. Ineos drew up several locations, in the UK and internationally, to make the car, which Sir Jim has billed as a "Spiritual successor" to the Land Rover Defender. Ineos intends to build parts of the vehicle in Portugal, before shipping them to the UK for final assembly, according to three people briefed on the plans. Ineos has leaned heavily on contractors, giving engineering work to German group MBTech, a former Mercedes division, and buying its engines from BMW. Early on in the project, Sir Jim attempted to buy the original Defender designs from Land Rover, only to be rebuffed.

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