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2 October, 2023
Test drives available for sought-after British 4WD
AN Ineos Grenadier demonstrator has arrived in Cairns and is available for test drives at Westco Motors.
Westco dealer-principal Chris King said he was delighted the demonstrator had arrived because there had been a lot of interest in the British-designed, rugged four-wheel-drive.
“Gutsy, capable, tough, the Grenadier is built for the world to get the job done,” he said.
“Come and see for yourself. It’s a great chance to share more details about this rugged 4X4 with you. And for you to get to know us and what we have to offer.
“We have 18 on order and have delivered three.”
The Ineos Grenadier is an off-road utility vehicle designed and produced by Ineos Automotive Ltd. It went into production in July 2022.
The Grenadier was designed to be a modern replacement of the original Land Rover Defender, with boxy bodywork, a steel ladder chassis, beam axles with long-travel progressive-rate coil spring suspension (front and rear), and powered by BMW six-cylinder diesel and petrol internal combustion engines.
Ineos Automotive Ltd was founded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire and chairman of the multinational chemicals company Ineos. Ratcliffe came up with the idea of building a replacement for his Land Rover Defender and initiated a project to design and build a similar vehicle under the codename Project Grenadier.
Westco is one of 28 outlets nationally and 160 locations around the world to sell the British designed and engineered vehicle, named after a pub.
By year’s end, Ineos expects to have at least 200 sales and service sites in more than 50 countries.
Testing on the vehicle began at the start of last year and took in 15 countries, targeting the toughest terrains in the worst possible weather.
According to Ineos’ website, engineers put 130 vehicles through 1.8 million kilometres of testing and development in Sweden, Austria, Granada, Kosovo and Morocco.
The vehicle is expected to start retailing from $97,000 to $109,525 in Australia and has been described by motoring reporters as the ‘spiritual successor’ to the original Land Rover Defender, despite being independently developed. It has a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
The Grenadier’s marque is a ladder-frame chassis off-roader with beam axles and mechanicals described by those who’ve been behind the wheel as ‘straightforward’.
Ineos is a London-based multinational chemical company with interests in the oil and gas sectors.
In 2019, Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe was at his favourite London pub, the Grenadier, wondering aloud how he was going to replace his old Land Rover Defender and believing the replacement model was ‘too soft’.
From those discussions the Grenadier was born and in less than three years the vehicle was on the market.
It’s aimed at fleets and farmers as well as adventurers and those tempted by the burly demeanour of a utilitarian off-roader.
