Land Rover slaps Ineos with a lawsuit following Grenadier SUV reveal

The off-roader that Great Britain-based automaker Ineos Automotive designed and nearly approved for production had always been meant to look just like the classic Land Rover Defender – but Jaguar Land Rover never gave its permission to copy the model, and is now understandably angry.

For those who missed the backstory, Jim Ratcliffe – a petrochemical industry tycoon – decided to create his own replica of the Defender SUV four years after the first generation left the assembly lines for good. He had attempted to negotiate the rights with JLR, but ended up with a refusal.

One may wonder: what are JLR’s stakes in all of this? It’s not like the company is going to produce more Defenders anytime soon, right? To an extent, yes, but there are still a few valid reasons for the action. Perhaps most importantly, the Jaguar Land Rover Classic subdivision enjoys considerable earnings from restoring and modernizing old Defenders, and the launch of the Grenadier may disrupt that business.

JLR actually attempted to acquire patent rights for the first-gen Defender last year, but the British Patent Office denied the request, arguing that the off-roader was not significantly different from its competitor models to warrant a patent. The company has appealed this decision in Great Britain and is now going to try to patent the car elsewhere – in the United States, among other markets.

In the end, it appears likely that JLR succeeds in banning Ineos Grenadier sales at least in some markets, including the domestic one.