Bowler EXR-S (2013)

The first Bowler competition cars came about in 1984, using a Land Rover Defender as a basis. Founded in Derby, the small UK company started by creating Cobra and Safari trial cars. Over the next 20 years, the company would evolve its initial concept to create some of the most competent, composed and fiercely competitive off-road vehicles.

Initially shortening a Defender chassis to 88” to form the Tomcat in 1989; after much success at national trial and hill rally events in the UK, the car would evolve to the 100” Wildcat. From here the car would achieve international fame in the Paris-Dakar rally throughout the 2000s. In 2005, Bowler was the second-largest factory team in the Dakar with the highest rate of finishers.

In 2009, Bowler announced the replacement for the Wildcat in the form of the Nemesis. A slowdown in the global economy meant the project was put on hold. Back with a vengeance in 2014, the exterior borrowed lights and the grille from the Range Rover Sport, and more importantly, mechanically it also borrowed the V8 powerplant. The form not dissimilar to a Land Rover but very different underneath. The car saw immediate competitive success.