Photo: Ineos
Founded by Jim Ratcliffe, the London-based Ineos Group doesn’t specialize in automobiles. The private limited company is a chemicals juggernaut, the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Given its profitability, the big kahuna formed Ineos Automotive in 2017 with the sole purpose of developing and manufacturing an off-road utility vehicle.
Not just any off-road SUV, though, but a successor to the body-on-frame Land Rover Defender. The Defender, as you’re well aware by now, has been refashioned into a unibody luxobarge. Despite boasting off-road prowess in every specification currently available, it sadly doesn’t have that certain something that made its body-on-frame predecessor an icon.
Officially dubbed Grenadier after The Grenadier pub in Belgravia, the Defender’s true successor isn’t manufactured in the United Kingdom. It’s actually made in France at the former smart car factory in Hambach. Rather than rehashed engines from when Rover was still a thing, the Grenadier uses a six-pot turbo gasser and turbo diesel of BMW origin.
Even the eight-speed automatic transmission is supplied by ZF, although that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. It’s one of the best trannies around, and those force-fed sixers from BMW are pretty decent powerplants. On the other hand, Ineos knows that something has to change in the near future. As the headline implies, work is already underway on an electric sibling for the combustion-engined Grenadier. This information comes courtesy of none other than Ineos commercial director Mark Tennant.
The reason why a zero-emission SUV is necessary for a boutique automaker like Ineos is… well… social and regulatory pressure. For starters, electric vehicles are slowly but steadily increasing in popularity, especially in the United States of America, the European Union, and – obviously enough – the United Kingdom. Whether the charging infrastructure will support the growing number of EVs by decade’s end, that’s another discussion altogether. Secondly, the regulatory pressure can be summed up in two words: Euro 7.
The new emission standard is planned to go live in July 2025, and many players in the automotive industry have already expressed concerns in regard to it. Volkswagen, for example, may discontinue the Polo supermini.
Speaking to Australia’s Drive, Mr. Tennant made it clear that the frame chassis of the Grenadier won’t be carried over to the yet-unnamed electric SUV. He also made it clear that off-road chops are in the offing, although not on the same level as the body-on-frame Grenadier. He further expects to deliver a segment-leading product despite the yet-to-be-detailed skateboard platform, a solution that Rivian uses in the R1T pickup and R1S SUV.
By skateboard, the automotive industry refers to a skateboard-like chassis consisting of a base structure in which the batteries and other electronic components are housed. Tennant further let it slip that the upcoming EV will retain the brand’s core DNA, a brand that still has a lot to prove against classics and modern off-roaders like the Hummer EV SUV.
Officially dubbed Grenadier after The Grenadier pub in Belgravia, the Defender’s true successor isn’t manufactured in the United Kingdom. It’s actually made in France at the former smart car factory in Hambach. Rather than rehashed engines from when Rover was still a thing, the Grenadier uses a six-pot turbo gasser and turbo diesel of BMW origin.
Even the eight-speed automatic transmission is supplied by ZF, although that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. It’s one of the best trannies around, and those force-fed sixers from BMW are pretty decent powerplants. On the other hand, Ineos knows that something has to change in the near future. As the headline implies, work is already underway on an electric sibling for the combustion-engined Grenadier. This information comes courtesy of none other than Ineos commercial director Mark Tennant.
The reason why a zero-emission SUV is necessary for a boutique automaker like Ineos is… well… social and regulatory pressure. For starters, electric vehicles are slowly but steadily increasing in popularity, especially in the United States of America, the European Union, and – obviously enough – the United Kingdom. Whether the charging infrastructure will support the growing number of EVs by decade’s end, that’s another discussion altogether. Secondly, the regulatory pressure can be summed up in two words: Euro 7.
The new emission standard is planned to go live in July 2025, and many players in the automotive industry have already expressed concerns in regard to it. Volkswagen, for example, may discontinue the Polo supermini.
Speaking to Australia’s Drive, Mr. Tennant made it clear that the frame chassis of the Grenadier won’t be carried over to the yet-unnamed electric SUV. He also made it clear that off-road chops are in the offing, although not on the same level as the body-on-frame Grenadier. He further expects to deliver a segment-leading product despite the yet-to-be-detailed skateboard platform, a solution that Rivian uses in the R1T pickup and R1S SUV.
By skateboard, the automotive industry refers to a skateboard-like chassis consisting of a base structure in which the batteries and other electronic components are housed. Tennant further let it slip that the upcoming EV will retain the brand’s core DNA, a brand that still has a lot to prove against classics and modern off-roaders like the Hummer EV SUV.
Google News