Ineos, a company specialising in the petrochemical sector, launches Grenadier, its first vehicle with a design strongly inspired by the legendary first generation Land Rover Defender. “Our intention was to create a hard and pure off-road vehicle that was not overly expensive and had incredible dynamic capabilities on all terrain,” says Dirk Heilmann, CEO of Ineos.
So why invent a style from scratch and risk making mistakes when you can be inspired by a true icon of modern motoring, right now that it’s out of production? That’s done. “With its shapes, we wanted to recall robustness, functionality and great versatility,” says Toby Ecuyer, who oversaw Grenadier’s design with his team. “We designed this vehicle from scratch: the four corners we placed the four wheels connected by a defined and sculptural side. Here form and function coexist in every detail,” continues Ecuyer.
The short overhangs, the height from the ground and the vertically developed front and rear body ends provide the necessary angles of attack to tackle even the most demanding off-road routes. The car, built on a chassis with side members, will be mass produced by Magna Steyr while the BMW group will supply six-cylinder engines with ZF gearboxes. “The interior is highly customisable”, assures the designer even though no images and technical information have yet been published.
“We have come up with various packages to meet the demands of all users, whether they are trendy young up-and-coming fashionistas, health care workers, safari guides in Africa or anywhere else in the world,” says Mark Tennant, Sales Director of Ineos. The architecture is also designed for maximum flexibility: it starts with the five-door version, while later on a pickup and a short-wheelbase Grenadier will arrive for an expected production of 30,000 vehicles per year at full capacity. The Ineos Grenadier is expected to debut in late 2021.
