Brexit-backing billionaire will build his SUV in France, not the UK

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by suitcaseofballots
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London (CNN Business) Britain's richest man and Brexit supporter Jim Ratcliffe has abandoned plans to build a new SUV in the United Kingdom, dealing another blow to a car industry that has already been battered by the country's exit from the European Union and the pandemic.

Daimler's DMLRY Ratcliffe is the founder of Ineos, a chemicals company, and has a fortune worth nearly $28 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index . Ineos said in a statement on Tuesday that its first vehicle, the Grenadier 4x4, will be manufactured at a plant in Hambach, France, that the company is buying fromMercedes-Benz.

"Hambach presented us with a unique opportunity that we simply could not ignore: to buy a modern automotive manufacturing facility with a world-class workforce," Ratcliffe said in a statement. The SUV, which is named after the London pub in which it was conceived, will enter production late next year.

Ineos had been planning to produce the SUV at a new plant in Bridgend, Wales, creating 500 jobs. Ratcliffe said in statement last year that the decision to base production in Wales was a "significant expression of confidence in British manufacturing."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed that sentiment at the time, saying that manufacturing the Grenadier in Wales was "a vote of confidence in UK expertise" that would make sure "we keep our status as a pioneer in new vehicle technologies."

iyoiiiiu on December 9th, 2020 at 13:41 UTC »

And the Brexiteers will try to find a way to blame the EU for it, I can already see it coming.

SciFiHiFive on December 9th, 2020 at 13:09 UTC »

Same thing happened with that total piece of dogshit owner of Dyson.

Made a few billion, lobbied for brexit, then moved operations to Singapore. Fuck these people.

ISayISayISay on December 9th, 2020 at 11:55 UTC »

Brexit was only ever about opportunities for the rich to get even richer. Fuck everything up, then swoop in and snap up the deals. That was the plan - and half the country fell for it.