Ineos Automotive Shows First Official Photos of the Specialized 4x4 Grenadier

Some of the greatest ideas often come from failed ambitions. Remember the legendary quarrel between Enzo Ferrari and one Ferruccio Lamborghini that led back in 1963 to the creation of Automobili Lamborghini? We’re not drawing any hints here, although it’s interesting to remember how Ratcliffe came up with the idea of setting up Ineos Automotive and develop the Grenadier.

Yep, he wanted to acquire the rights to the now defunct former generation Land Rover Defender – and the British noblesse obliged Jaguar Land Rover to decline. Jump forward a few years and the new Defender is doing the news rounds. But so is the Ineos Grenadier, a spiritual successor to the prestigious ancestor. And there’s nothing military combative about the name – it appears the Grenadier is named after Ratcliffe’s favorite beverage locale in London.

Back to the off roader at hand, the Ineos Grenadier does share a suspiciously high amount of design traits with the Defenders of old, although the designers seem to have interspersed some Mercedes G Class DNA here and there, just for good measure. Sniffing about the pixels of the official press gallery we clearly understood the G-Wagen connections – after all Ineos partnered with Magna Steyr on the engineering perspective.

In all honesty, the Grenadier – which is not due for production until late 2021 – is also bringing a flavor of Iveco Massif, itself a rebadged Santana PS-10 that was manufactured for the Italian company between 2007 and 2011 with an emphasis on the utility and military markets. No matter the connections, Ineos promises the Grenadier will become “a rugged, capable and comfortable go-anywhere working vehicle.”

Unfortunately, there are very few technical details available – Ineos Automotive is only saying the Grenadier is currently undergoing the capability and durability vehicle development phase. Its prototypes – now free of any hindering camouflage – are set to cover around 1.8 million kilometers (some 1.11 million miles) over the next twelve months.