The first mistake an Ineos Grenadier owner makes is about time management. For every trip to Bunnings or the supermarket, add at least 30 minutes for dealing with questions from auto and 4WD enthusiasts. The questions don’t start with “what will she do?”, rather with “what is it?”
Then comes the full story of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos and the search to replace the old school classic Land Rover Defender with something modern, comfortable and absolutely bullet-proof off-road.
How Sir Jim needed an old school 4WD SUV for his oil business, something that would get his people into remote, inhospitable regions and get them out again.
How the basic parameters were sketched out on napkins and coasters one afternoon in a London pub called the Grenadier.
How the project has been a joint British-European venture that simply ignored all the petty politics of Brexit.
How it was tested over more than a million kilometres in very extreme conditions.
Finally, how the Grenadier has seized the imagination of 4WD enthusiasts across the globe.
Ineos took us to Victoria for the launch of the Grenadier, driving roads and tracks in the challenging Lerderderg State Park, an hour inland from Melbourne. A perfect place to show off the ability of this BMW-engined SUV. Gum trees, dust, pea-gravel roads, a drive through a creek to ascend a rock face.
We drove Trialmaster and Fieldmaster versions with diesel and petrol engines and found it hard to pick a favourite. In Aussie, we reckon the diesel will be more popular in rural regions; the petrol slightly sprightlier in urban work. In New Zealand, we don’t tackle the distances Aussies do, so the choice is not as clearly divided.
Ineos Automotive regional boss Justin Hocevar has devoted five years to establishing the brand, a dealer network and parts and service infrastructure and says there’s plenty more to come.
The Grenadier was created to fill the gap left by departed old-school 4WDs including the Defender, but it had to be a modern, comfortable 4WD with good safety features. Sales are coming from a diverse range of customers, with order books in all regions filling faster than Ineos expected. It’s not intended to be a mass-market product, produced in the millions for customers who hardly know, care or appreciate what Grenadier can do. But Aussie sales have cracked 1,500; New Zealand sales are nudging 100.
We like the Grenadier’s immense off-road capability, its robust design, and the ‘best in breed’ drivetrain component list: BMW, ZF, Tremec, Carraro to name a few. Most of all we like how this SUV is the product of one man’s passion and vision, and how well it turned out.
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