Ineos Grenadier ready to start production this summer

The Grenadier SUV developed by British chemical giant Ineos is on track to start production in July, the company said on Wednesday.

That’s about a year later than originally planned, but a lot has changed in the past year, and that’s before you factor in the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Production will take place at the former Smart plant in Hambach, France, which Ineos purchased from Mercedes-Benz in 2020. A previous plan was to construct a new plant in Wales.

Ineos has made some key upgrades to the Hambach plant including adding a new fully automated body shop and semi-automated paint shop, and upgrading the general assembly facility. A modern quality assessment facility has also been added to the site.

The plant is already churning out the first pre-production examples of the Grenadier. Pre-production vehicles are typically used for final testing as well as for certification and registration purposes. They also provide plant employees with an opportunity to iron out any production snags before the first customer examples are built.

Ineos already has 15,000 reservations for the Grenadier and said full specifications and pricing information will be announced in April, though only for markets outside North America. Info for the U.S. will be announced closer to the market launch in 2023.

2022 Ineos Grenadier prototype

2022 Ineos Grenadier prototype

2022 Ineos Grenadier prototype

The rugged, utilitarian off-roader draws its name from an old word for a specialized soldier (as well as the London pub in which the idea was conceived), and features a design clearly inspired by the original Land Rover Defender. Ineos chief Jim Ratcliffe was prompted to develop the vehicle after Land Rover announced it was ending production of its original Defender.

Seeing that there was still demand for a rugged, no-nonsense off-roader from the mining, forestry and agricultural industries, as well as from enthusiasts, Ratcliffe wanted to continue offering a vehicle like the original Defender. In fact, he even tried to buy the rights to the old Defender from Land Rover but was knocked back.

Ineos teamed up with Austria’s Magna Steyr to develop the Grenadier. Magna helped Mercedes-Benz develop the G-Class and still builds the iconic SUV to this day, so it’s no surprise the Grenadier bares some resemblance to the G-Class as well. A lot of the testing took place in the same Austrian mountains where G-Class development takes place, including the famous Schoeckl.

2022 Ineos Grenadier

The Grenadier is based on a platform with body-on-frame construction, solid axles with panhard rods front and rear, and progressive coil springs. To help reduce weight, the body is made from a mix of aluminum, high-strength steels and even some composites. Both regular SUV and pickup body styles are planned.

Ineos plans just one powertrain for the U.S., a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 sourced from BMW. It will be mated to an 8-speed automatic and a four-wheel-drive system with a two-speed transfer case. A diesel will be offered in other markets, and further down the track we will also likely see electric power.