Jaguar Landrover have announced their new “new Defender”. On my bucket list....
JLR-owned rally specialist Bowler to launch high-performance 4x4 with Defender body panels and supercharged V8
www.autocar.co.uk
Published by: James Attwood, digital editor, AUTOCAR magazine, on 04 November 2020.
Classic Defender revived as 567bhp road-legal rally-raider.
JLR-owned rally specialist Bowler to launch high-performance 4x4 with Defender body panels and supercharged V8.
The classic Land Rover Defender 110 body shape will be revived for a new high-performance, rally-bred machine from off-road specialist Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) subsidiary Bowler that will represent the “ultimate expression” of the design.
Codenamed CSP 575, the road-legal 4x4 will be based on a reworked version of Bowler’s bespoke high-performance rally-car chassis topped with L316-generation Defender 110 aluminium body panels and powered by JLR’s range-topping 567bhp supercharged V8 engine.
It will be the first road-focused vehicle produced by
Derbyshire specialist Bowler and the firm’s first project since it was
bought by JLR last year and placed under its Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) umbrella. Bowler continues to operate as an independent entity, although now with greater co-operation from SVO, and has been given a licence to use the Defender 110 body.
Michael van der Sande, the boss of SVO division, promised the new four-wheel-drive machine will be “a wickedly fast rally car for the road” with a planned 0-60mph time of around 4.0sec.
The vehicle will be hand-produced in small numbers – likely around a dozen a year – at Bowler’s factory in Belper and will cost £200,000.
“This project marries three things: the rally experience from Bowler, the powertrain and capabilities from SVO and the iconic Defender shape from Land Rover,” said van der Sande. “It’s clearly something customers want; there’s a lot of customising of the L316 Defender going on, and this is the ultimate performance iteration of that shape”.
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THIS DOES RAISE A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS . . .
1. Bowler are extremely, VERY, specialised, and looking at the size of the Bowler "factory in Belper", would be unable to produce more than
" . . . around a dozen a year".
Each CSP 575 will require around 1000 hours of work from Bowler’s engineers, with plans to slowly grow the team of around 30 staff.
Calum McKechnie, the former JLR Classic boss who now heads Bowler, said: “This is what Bowler customers want. There’s a huge affinity for the old Defender shape, and it’s a natural progression . . . in the iconic shape of the Defender.
BUT . . . could Michael van der Sande, the boss of SVO division, authorise a far more generous, ambitious, production run, at his more modern/extensive SVO facilities in Coventry (
on the site of Chrysler UK's old Ryton factory 
).
2. A far more generous, ambitious, production run, at the more modern/extensive SVO facilities in Coventry, would clearly SIGNIFICANTLY,
reduce the projected cost of £200,000 each (for the Bowler rally versions, to be produced at Belper), certainly when JLR’s range-topping 567bhp supercharged V8 engine, is replaced by the new 6-cyl Ingenium diesel engine just introduced in the New DEFENDER.
3. The Bowler chassis/frame, would presumably be
still more than capable, suitable, for “general purpose” use, even after the removal of the cross-bracing at the back, which would otherwise restrict access to, utilisation of, the load-space . . .
4. With clearly continuing access to newly manufactured (original) DEFENDER body panels; presumably a continuing availability of (original) DEFENDER “Wolf” axles and drive/prop-shafts; the new Bowler chassis; and, the new 6-cyl Ingenium diesel engine; it is suggested that INEOS should be watching this very closely !!
