Ineos Grenadier add-ons developed Down Under

AUSTRALIAN off-road accessory businesses, including ARB, are already preparing for the arrival of the Ineos Grenadier.

In addition to its own extensive array of options and accessories, Ineos Automotive says it is working with four Australian four-wheel drive accessory firms to ensure its customers have the greatest choice possible in personalising their Grenadier when it arrives late next year.

“We’re not going to ring-fence our accessory portfolio,” said Ineos APAC head of sales and marketing Justin Hocevar.

“We’ll have a complete range of OE accessories, but on top, we recognise that customers are loyal to off-road accessory brands including Iron Man, ARB, etcetera.

“For that reason, we’ve been working with reputable aftermarket accessories providers not just in Australia and New Zealand, but also across Europe, South Africa, and the United States, to make sure Grenadier customers can personalise their vehicle to their own requirements and tastes.”

Mr Hocevar said Ineos Automotive was aware of the importance of market-specific accessories, and that it had worked with providers in several countries to ensure their off-road options and accessories would be ready for sale when the Grenadier launches to key markets, including Australia and New Zealand, in the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We’ve provided CAD information to a number of reputable aftermarket accessory manufacturers already and are working with them to provide a prototype model as soon as possible to help develop their range (of options and accessories).

“We’ve conducted our own crash testing of the Grenadier to a very high standard for this category of vehicle, and in working closely with aftermarket suppliers, we can expect that standard to be maintained when customers option the accessories they choose.

“So, it’s important we work with these businesses ahead of time.”

The Grenadier will be available for pre-order from October this year with entry-level wagon variants priced from $84,500 (plus on-road costs) in Australia and $NZ93,000 (plus ORCs) in New Zealand.

The five-door wagon will be joined in 2023 by a dual-cab ute and a short-wheelbase model can also be also spied testing in Grenadier’s own YouTube video series.

“You won’t have to wait very long for the dual-cab model to come to this part of the world,” Mr Hocevar added.

“The dual-cab variant will certainly help ‘kick up’ volume of Grenadier sales in this part of the world, but that doesn’t mean we’re chasing market share, per se. We’re a niche player, and there won’t be a battle with other OEMs, we’re not chasing rampant market volume.

“Production capacity for the Grenadier currently is 25,000 to 30,000 units annually, and we can scale-up if demand dictates, but realistically I think we’ll see 1,000 units in Australia in our launch year and a few hundred in New Zealand.”

Ineos Automotive says its Grenadier can handle any terrain, from Victorian farmland to Western Australia’s mines, and everything in between.

Paraphrasing an old Toyota LandCruiser tagline, it says the vehicle can get to the most remote locations in Australia and back safely, and that first examples of the Grenadier will roll off its Hambach, France production line in July 2022.

The company was founded by chemicals billionaire Sir James Ratcliffe, who intended to build a replacement for the original Land Rover Defender when production ceased in 2016.

Sir Ratcliffe originally approached Jaguar Land Rover to purchase tooling and continue production of the Defender, but later decided to initiate a clean-sheet project that would design and build a similar vehicle under the codename Projekt Grenadier.

Named after Sir Ratcliffe’s favourite pub – and the very establishment in which Projekt Grenadier was conceived – the Grenadier is strongly reminiscent of the original Land Rover Defender. It features a boxy body set on a ladder-frame chassis, solid axles, and long-travel progressive-rate coil suspension.

Short and long-wheelbase models have been spied testing, though initially a four-door wagon will be offered. Ineos Automotive has said it will offer a dual-cab ute variant of the Grenadier in the future – a perfect fit for Australia’s ute-thirsty new car market.

Power comes from BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, offered with a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic transmission only – and a hydrogen fuel-cell driveline, co-developed with Hyundai, is also in the wings.

Ineos Automotive head of design, Toby Ecuyer, said the Grenadier’s development included the study of a range of off-road vehicles, adding that the model’s design is one that is “extremely capable but also very honest and uncomplicated” and would target a gap left in the market at the end of the 68-year production run of Land Rover’s Defender and its ‘Series’ predecessors. 

The Grenadier body comprises 350 individual panels, mostly manufactured from high-tensile steel. The doors, bonnet, and tailgate are constructed of aluminium. The spilt tailgate is fitted with a full-size spare wheel and offers access to a cargo area large enough to accommodate three sheep (again referencing the original Land Rover Defender) and with in-built tie-down rails.

Nothing unnecessary is included in the hose-down cabin and all electronic items are installed above the Grenadier’s maximum wading depth.