Around the Industry – 4WD186 – Part 3

Around the Industry – 4WD186 – Part 3

TESLA’S ELON MUSK SAYS EV TRUCKS ON THE WAY

Elon Musk, yeah, that geeky guy with a weird accent that is slowly taking over the world, is likely that last person you’d think would be pushing a new truck on the 4WD audience. However, in a recent master plan presentation for Tesla's future, he officially includes an electric powered pickup truck in his grandiose plans.

Mr. Musk doesn’t just want to sell trucks; he’s looking to completely revolutionize the auto industry… and the energy industry… and the space industry. Not to get too caught up in planet Musk, let's keep to the automotive side of things. Musk envisions Tesla motors covering the entire automotive field, be it small compacts to commercial trucking. While a mass-produced EV truck has never been successful and only a handful of hybrids have ever seen the light of day, something tells us he might be the one to bring an electric pickup to market successfully. So far, there is no timing for when we might see such a vehicle.

MAZDA AND ISUZU PARTNERING ON NEW MID-SIZED PICKUP

The story of the Mazda B-Series pickup is a turbulent one, a roller coaster affair full of successes and failures. Here in North America, the story ended in failure as the B-Series was a weakly disguised Ford Ranger that got the axe when Ford decided not to build the mid-size pickup for the North American market back in 2012. Overseas, the Mazda lives on as the BT-50, still based off the Ranger, but a much more unique vehicle. However, that relationship is coming to an end, and Mazda has cut ties with Ford for their next generation pickup.

They have however found comfort in the embrace of Isuzu, a company they have partnered with in the past to produce commercial vehicles. The two Japanese-based companies will collaborate once again on the next generation mid-size pickup, but that is all information we have at this time. The question is, with Mazda freeing up some of its ties with Ford, and Isuzu still selling commercial vehicles here in Canada, is there a chance we could get another competitor in the mid-size pickup market with either an Isuzu or Mazda badge on the front grille? Despite the likelihood of Ford bringing back the Ranger, it’s not looking so good for the Mazda at this time, however we’ll close eye on them for any hints of a return of the B-Series.

COULD BILLIONAIRE ENTHUSIAST SAVE THE DEFENDER?

We at 4WDrive Magazine mourned the loss of the Land Rover Defender earlier this year, even if the Defender hasn’t been officially sold in Canada for a couple of decades. It’s always hard to lose such an iconic enthusiast vehicle, and a classic at that. While we still await word from Land Rover on the possibility of a future Defender, thankfully the original Defender could be resurrected as a low production specialty vehicle or even a kit car.

According to a report from The Times, Jim Ratcliffe, a billionaire who made his money in the chemical industry, met with Jaguar Land Rover executives to talk about taking the Defender from Tata's hands. It's unclear, whether he's interested only in the stampings and assembly equipment, or perhaps the name as well, but reviving the Defender assembly equipment offers up several enticing possibilities. The tooling could be used to make authentic replacement parts and panels much like Year-One does with classic domestic vehicles, or a coachbuilder operation could be set up for specialty or kit car vehicles similar to Caterham and its Lotus 7-based sports cars. The thought of building a Land Rover Defender in our own garage is something to get excited about. We’ll stay on top of both this and future Defender news as it comes.