Land Rover FINALLY buys Bowler – expect a new Land Rover Defender Bowler Edition to follow

Jaguar Land Rover has finally bought up Land Rover performance specialists Bowler, which will now be run by JLR’s SVO Team, promising future extreme Land Rovers.

Drew Bowler’s eponymous company has been making Land Rovers do extraordinary things for 35 years, and in that time has grown closer to Land Rover as its expertise was acknowledged by Land Rover to be of huge benefit to the Land Rover Brand.

Back in 2012 – following Bowler’s acquisition by CPP which turned out rather badly – Drew Bowler managed to rescue Bowler from the receivers and enter a partnership with Land Rover which would see Bowler’s cars branded with a ‘Powered by Land Rover’, good for Bowler and for Land Rover.

At the time, we asked Land Rover if they planned to do the sensible thing and either take a stake in Bowler or buy them out, but JLR were adamant they had no plans to do so, and wouldn’t be using the Bowler badge on Land Rover models. But things have changed.

Perhaps part of the reason Land Rover didn’t take a stake in Bowler at the time was a reluctance by Drew Bowler to let go of his baby, especially after the CPP debacle, but whatever the reason then, things have changed, Drew Bowler died unexpectedly in 2016, and Land Rover has now gobbled up Bowler.

Bowler will now come under the banner of Land Rover’s SVO, although it will retain its own site in Belper. Michael van der Sand, JLR SVO boss, said:

At Special Vehicle Operations we are all eager to start working with our new colleagues at Bowler. Adding the Bowler team’s skills and experience to those of SV, Vehicle Personalisation and Classic is a key step in our strategy to create an exciting and diverse portfolio of products and businesses within Special Vehicle Operations.

Land Rover may not have used the Bowler badge on its cars after the partnership in 2012, but you can almost bet the house we’ll see a new Land Rover Defender Bowler Edition before long.