Ineos Grenadier has been talked about for over two years now. For those who don’t
knew what it is and mistook it for a Land Rover
Defender – obviously from the first generation – here’s a brief
summary of its history. It was first announced in
March 2019 by Ineos Automotive, a company created from scratch
just to build this new off-road and linked to the group
petrochemist Ineos, which is owned by billionaire Sir Jim
Ratcliffe. When, in early 2016, Land Rover produced the last
Defender of the older generation, Ratcliffe had proposed himself for
buy everything you need to continue production but to the
in the end nothing came of it. So the British tycoon decided to do da
itself, starting a business from scratch, turning to the best technicians and
suppliers and finally buying a factory (Hambach) from
Mercedes, where the Smart was once produced.
Today the Ineos Grenadier – the name is that of a favorite London pub
by Ratcliffe – is almost ready to be marketed all over the
world and we had the opportunity to understand its qualities in a
very technical off-road route at the International Fair
Off-road vehicle in Versilia. It was intuition because we are
remained in the passenger seat, as the car was still a
prototype, although almost definitive, and therefore could be driven
only by test drivers with a special permit. But before
tell you how it went, it is good to remember that the Grenadier is
designed to be a tough and pure 4×4, proudly of the
old school. The frame with side members is then separated from the body
and the suspensions – supplied by the very Italian Carraro – are bridged
stiff. Speaking of Italy, key components are also local
such as the braking system (Brembo) and the steering box (Frap).
The 6-cylinder in-line engines, on the other hand, are of BMW origin – the Diesel
from 245 hp and 550 Nm, petrol from 281 hp and 450 Nm – and they are coupled
to the tried and tested automatic transmission is ZF 8-speed, equipped with
reduced. Speaking of transmission, the scheme provides for a traction
permanent integral with center differential lock; the
front and rear differential locks are optional.
This is with regards to the technical data sheet, while the aesthetics is
clearly inspired by that of the old Defender. Inside of,
instead, the atmosphere is very different and the decades that become evident
separate the design of the Land Rovers and the new Ineos
Grenadier. The space on board is large and well distributed, with the
12.3-inch touchscreen of the infotainment system that looks nice
shows itself in the center of the dashboard.
For the rest, the setting of the passenger compartment and the dashboard is a lot
original, as the Head of Design Toby Ecuyer said
“We looked for inspiration in planes, boats and even
in modern tractors, where functionality is a priority: the
most used switches and controls are at your fingertips while
the auxiliary ones are in a secondary position, but always
easily accessible, even by the passenger “
theory to practice, the Grenadier showed great ease
in tackling various off-road obstacles, even very technical ones,
overcoming them while maintaining a great level of comfort on board. Net
of its nature as a pre-series prototype, the Grenadier already has it
showed what it’s made of. To try it out completely
we have to wait for the summer of 2022, when the first deliveries will begin.
Reservations opened a few weeks ago, with a price
indicative starting from 60,500 euros including VAT.
