Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire chemicals tycoon, is nearing a decision on where to build his new alternative to the Land Rover Defender — with two sites in Britain still in the running.
The £700m project is expected to create 1,000 direct jobs and support possibly 5,000 more in the supply chain. A team of 200 engineers at MBtech, a former Mercedes-Benz subsidiary, are already working in Stuttgart, Germany, on a design for the new off-roader — being built under the codename Projekt Grenadier.
Yet Ratcliffe, 65, has yet to decide where to build it. An ardent Brexiteer, the founder of the chemicals company Ineos has long wanted to use the project to bolster British industry. Financially, though, it makes more sense to build the new…