Ineos Automotive has just started delivering its Grenadier wagon to Australians after months of delays, but for many buyers, it’s the two (officially) yet-to-be-revealed cabs that are of more interest.
Expected to appear in the next month or two and enter series production by the end of the year, the often spied Grenadier pickup forms a niche proposition in Australia’s fast-growing ute market – which accounts for about one in five new vehicle sales.
“The importance for the Australian market is huge… I think we also have something quite unique,” Ineos Automotive Asia Pacific boss Justin Hocevar told us this week, adding that more news about the vehicle is “closer”.
The Grenadier ute will have a clear styling difference to mainstream dual-cabs like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger – not to mention the heavier-duty spec and higher price – and should offer better loading and towing abilities than the similarly boxed Jeep Gladiator.
While the price will be closer to the larger range of American pickups entering the market, all of which offer solid towing credentials, the Grenadier should keep it covered for off-road capability – in terms of angle of attack, potential articulation, etc.
If anything, the Grenadier dual-cab ute shapes up as a more refined and modern competitor to the dual-cab Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series – an agricultural vehicle that nevertheless offers heavyweight capability and continues to dominate rural Australia.
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Source: Ineos Grenadier Owners Club
“We don’t have the legacy of their story, but we’ve certainly got a big investment in high-quality equipment and I think people have been really attracted to that,” claimed Mr Hocevar. In an unexpected time, Toyota had to pause LC70 orders due to low production rates.
“So I like to think that we have almost lived in between places in Thailand [sourced] and big American stuff now, and there’s not a lot of choice in the space we want to occupy. The network is very strong and ready for this vehicle, especially all the regional guys.”
“We have very strong order numbers in Australia, [but] we still have very strong booking numbers,” added Mr Hocevar, referring to people apparently putting down Grenadier deposits when the wagon went on sale – otherwise for an undisclosed ute.
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Render of the original Ineos pickup
“These are the people who have dropped that $800 booking fee in October 2021, there are a lot of people who… have put that money in there with us for a number of years almost to be the first taxi to be demoted when it comes to twin cabs.”
“That’s a very strong indication to us that there are some people out there hanging out for this vehicle.”
We obviously don’t know exactly how much the Grenadier ute will cost, but for context the station wagon opens at $98,000 for the base model with no options – meaning it’s likely to be a six-figure vehicle when on-road costs are factored in.
Expect the Grenadier pickup to share most of the same specs as the Grenadier wagon – engine, axles, front half panel, interior – but also offer a longer wheelbase and higher payload than the wagon’s stock 932kg maximum.
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Grenadier Wagons
The Grenadier wagon – the ute is derived from the same platform – offers BMW-sourced inline-six diesel (183kW and 550Nm) and petrol (210kW and 450Nm) engines, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and 4×4 with a low-range engine.
It has Carraro beam axles at both ends suspended with five-link Eibach coilovers, box-section ladder chassis, permanent 4×4 with Tremec transfer case, three differential locks, 3550kg gross vehicle mass and 3500kg towing capacity.
Background
Australia is one of the main global markets for the rugged Grenadier, considered by some to be a spiritual successor to the original Land Rover Defender.
The Grenadier is the brainchild of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire British engineer and chairman of multinational petrochemical giant Ineos. No expense was spared for his passion project.
The official story says Ratcliffe was hanging out in London’s Grenadier pub in 2017, bemoaning Land Rover’s decision to kill off the old Defender and replace it with a new, more modern and luxurious SUV model when he decided to give the car a go.
Ineos Automotive Australia will be a factory operation rather than an independent distributor. The company has about 30 brand stores in Australia selling through a fixed-price agency model, including five in capital cities and 25 in regional hubs, reflecting Grenadier’s target audience.
Production of the Grenadiers was built at the old Mercedes-Benz factory in Hambach, France, which was bought by Ineos. Since 2019 the plant has received an A$770 million upgrade claim, funded by Mercedes-Benz and Ineos.
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