Should American pickup trucks be worried?
Ineos has unveiled the Grenadier Quartermaster pickup truck at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. As we expected, the Quartermaster is essentially the same car as the Grenadier Station Wagon. According to Ineos, the two vehicles were developed and built side-by-side.
Ineos made the ladder frame chassis 12 inches longer to make room for the bed. The result is a bed that's 62 inches long and 64 inches wide. That's large enough for a standard Euro pallet or loads of adventure gear. The claimed payload is 1,653 pounds, and it boasts the same 7,700-pound tow rating as the Station Wagon.
The bed has four tie-down rings, an integrated mounting bar, and a 400-watt power take-off. The tailgate is 50.4 inches wide, and up to two people can sit on it if they don't weigh more than 496 lbs combined.
The pickup is available with the same 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six gas and diesel engines supplied by BMW. An eight-speed ZF transmission is standard, feeding power to a permanent four-wheel-drive system with a two-speed transfer case. A center differential lock is standard, but hardcore off-roaders will almost certainly opt for the optional lockers on the front and rear axles, standard on the Fieldmaster.
The Quartermaster also has the same suspension setup as the wagon, which consists of a heavy-duty five-link front and rear suspension. A set of Carraro-supplied solid beam axles ensure that at least one wheel is always pushed into the ground. As you can imagine, it's a heavy beast, so powerful Brembo brakes and recirculating ball steering are included to keep it on the straight and narrow.
Even the same trim levels are carried over. The Fieldmaster Edition is the more cultured of the two and comes with a leather interior, floor mats, and heated front seats.
The Trailmaster is unapologetically aimed at off-roaders and is equipped with front and rear differential locks and BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. A base model called the Quartermaster is also available, and it's essentially a blank canvas to which you can add any available packages and accessories.
Grenadier says it has 10.4 inches of ground clearance and can wade through 31.5 inches of water. It also claims “approach, breakover, and departure angles unrivaled by any other series production pickup.” We'll have to wait for the final figures, but the Jeep Gladiator Mojave sits more than an inch higher off the ground.
The Quartermaster can also be customized with accessories, including a waterproof canvas canopy, a lockable roller tonneau cover, a roof rack, jerry cans, sand ladders, and more.
The Grenadier has been confirmed for the US and will start at $71,500 for the base model. The named models will cost somewhere in the $80,000 region. Given our love of gas-powered cars, we suspect diesel won't be an option for our market.
In the UK, the Quartermaster costs £66,215 for the base and £73,715 for the Trailmaster and Fieldmaster. That's roughly $87,000 for the base pickup truck and $97,000 for the higher-spec models. This means the Quartermaster will be a niche model in the US. The Ram TRX and Raptor R are cheaper, and we can't see many people walking past them to buy a Quartermaster.
Then again, Ineos may soon be targeting early adopters.
Hydrogen Future
We've known for a while that the company is working on a hydrogen-powered model. A hydrogen-fuelled Grenadier demonstrator also made its debut at the Festival of Speed. The hydrogen model is identical to the gas-powered model (design-wise), apart from a power bulge on the hood, which is necessary to accommodate the height of the fuel cell.
“The hydrogen-powered Grenadier Demonstrator is an extraordinary vehicle, capable of doing everything a conventionally powered Grenadier can do but with zero emissions,” said Lynn Calder, CEO of Ineos Automotive. “It shows [our] determination to make supremely capable cars that will help us reach net zero.”
The hydrogen model also uses BMW's latest technology, and Ineos has put it through a rigorous testing procedure to ensure it can handle the expected stresses. Even so, no release date has been set.
Keyword: Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster Pickup Introduced At Goodwood Festival Of Speed