It all started in 2017, over a pint with friends in London’s Grenadier pub, where Ineos chairman and 4×4 enthusiast Sir Jim Ratcliffe identified a gap in the market for a rugged off-roader to fill the void left by the original Land Rover Defender.
His idea to build a serious off-roader from the ground up developed quickly. Ineos Automotive was created and by February 2018, a 200-strong team of engineers worked full-time on the new vehicle. When the company asked members of the 4X4 community to name it, 6,000 replied the Grenadier, after the London pub where it all began, and after more than one million miles of testing, the company launched the production version of the new vehicle earlier this year.
Supported via a 200-strong network of sales and service sites worldwide, the Grenadier is assembled at a site in Hambach, Germany (previously owned by Mercedes-Benz). Powered by a BMW 3.0l straight six cylinder engine mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the vehicle provides permanent 4wd, 3.5t of towing capability, 5.5t of winch power and up to 2,000l of load space.
“We’ve come a long way since the project kicked off in 2017 and this is a landmark moment for Ineos Automotive as a vehicle manufacturer,” comments Mark Tennant, Ineos automotive commercial director.
