As billionaire frackers go, James Ratcliffe, founder, chairman and majority owner of chemical giant Ineos Group, seems like one of the good ones.
He founded a children’s charity called the Go Run for Fun. He’s designing beach houses with hydraulic stilts that will protect residents (and their property) against rising sea levels. And now he wants to revive one of the most beautiful vehicles ever made.
According to The Times, Ratcliffe is in talks with execs at Jaguar Land Rover to purchase the rights to rebuild the recently discontinued Land Rover Defender.
While there are several obstacles he’ll have to overcome in order to get the Defender assembly line rolling again (emissions standards, naming rights, etc.), Ratcliffe’s end goal is to resume production of the iconic Land Rover model in the United Kingdom at some point in the future.
If the negotiations go well, Ratcliffe’s model could debut before Land Rover’s own Defender replacement hits streets in 2019.
Give ‘em hell, Jimmy.
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