INEOS GRENADIER ARRIVES IN AUSTRALIA

PRICES ARE LOCKED IN FOR THE FIVE-DOOR GRENADIER, AS A PROTOTYPE LANDS LOCALLY

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

AUSTRALIANS will be able to place an order for an Ineos Grenadier by the time you are reading ths, with deliveries of the all-new 4x4 wagon set to occur late in 2022. Just the five-door Grenadier wagon will be offered initially, with prices starting from $84,500. A four-door double-cab pickup Grenadier will follow in a few years time.

The Grenadier is the first vehicle from Ineos Automotive, a name you may recognise as a sponsor of the British America’s Cup yachting squad, Mercedes F1 Racing team and British road cycling teams, but primarily it is a huge chemical production company.

Ineos owner, Jim Ratcliffe, recognised the need for a traditional, off-road capable four-wheel drive utility vehicle after Land Rover announced it was planning to stop making the classic Land Rover Defender. When Land Rover refused to sell him the rights to continue to manufacture and sell the Defender, Ratcliffe decided to build his own.

The result is the Grenadier, named after the pub where the idea for it was conceived, and right now there is fleet of 2B Grenadier prototypes putting in test miles around the world in preparation for the production vehicle. Ineos is planning to log more than 1.8 million test kilometres before it signs off on the production car and begins manufacturing in Germany.