60 facts you might not have heard about the all-new British-inspired, German-engineered, French-built off-roader
- Here’s everything you need to know about the newcomer that wants to shake up the 4WD world:
- For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales’ Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast
- Join the conversation at our Facebook page Or email us at [email protected]
The 2023 INEOS Grenadier is an all-new model from an all-new auto brand inspired by the demise of utilitarian off-roaders including the old-generation Land Rover Defender.
The large five-door 4×4 off-road wagon is the result of about five years of design and engineering hard yakka from a company that has never previously produced a car.
Rather than trying to play with the masses, the Grenadier has prioritised off-road capability and durability ahead of on-road driving manners. It’s a true, traditional 4WD from nose to tail, even if pricing for the 12-variant model line-up starts at close to $100,000.
Australia is shaping up to be one of the biggest markets for the Grenadier – the first of four models planned by INEOS – with everyone from workers to adventurers lining up for the all-new four-wheel drive, and this country helping to develop some of the 50-plus accessories available.
Future INEOS models will include a dual-cab 4×4 ute version of the Grenadier as soon as late this year, a smaller dedicated electric SUV underpinned by a car-based monocoque platform in 2026, and eventually hydrogen fuel-cell powered Grenadiers.
Here’s everything you need to know about the newcomer that wants to shake up the 4WD world:
1. The Grenadier is a British-inspired four-wheel drive engineered in Germany and manufactured in France.
2. The Grenadier was tested over 1.8 million kilometres all over the world, including Australia. The motto for the Grenadier is “built on purpose”.
3. The Grenadier almost certainly wouldn’t exist without INEOS CEO and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe. He’s a keen four-wheel driver and adventurer.
4. The Grenadier benefitted from the development of the all-new Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen that arrived in 2018. Sir Ratcliffe says many of the engineers that worked on that vehicle for seven years with Austrian-based design and manufacturing outfit Magna Steyr transitioned over to the Grenadier. “We didn’t start off with the relationship with Magna… then the new G-Wagen was launched and those 250 engineers about three years ago moved onto the Grenadier”.
5. The Grenadier was tested around the world but spent plenty of time pounding up the Shoeckl mountain, which is the home base of the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen.
6. Reckon you’ve never heard of INEOS? Check out the rear of Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 car. The global chemicals giant owns one-third of the Mercedes-AMG team and has prominent sponsorship on the cars.
7. F1 aces Lewis Hamilton and George Russell appear in promotional videos for the Grenadier. Sir Ratcliffe says “we have a really good relationship with Mercedes” and that “we don’t bang into each other at all [on product]”. His thinking is that the G-Wagen is less of an adventure machine than he hopes the Grenadier will be.
8. Bringing the Grenadier to market went over budget by about 50 per cent, with Ratcliffe saying it was “a bit more expensive than anticipated”. The overall bill was about €1.5 billion, or something north of $A2.3 billion.
9. The Grenadier is available in three trim levels and the base variant is described as the “blank canvas”, which is a marketing-friendly way of saying it’s fairly basic. The Trialmaster continues with black steel wheels but picks up light truck rubber as well as extras such as a raised air intake, ladder and auxiliary battery. The Fieldmaster gets alloy wheels, safari windows in the roof, heated front seats, leather trim and carpet mats.
10. The Grenadier comes in six solid colours and four metallic colours. Buyers can also choose a contrasting white or black roof. The names of the colours reflect the brand’s British heritage. They include Scottish White, Britannia Blue, Sterling Silver, Queen’s Red and our favourite, Magic Mushroom.
11. The Grenadier’s arrival was delayed (it was due in 2022) in part because of COVID-related challenges with shipping and supply chains. It also didn’t help that about 158 parts were sourced from Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia just as production was set to ramp up.
12. Brakes for the Grenadier were developed by Brembo and include two-piston callipers up front and single-piston units at the rear.
13. INEOS didn’t bother developing seats for the Grenadier and instead turned to renowned manufacturer Recaro. They’re good!
14. Among its extensive accessories list, the Grenadier is not only available with a factory-mounted front winch but also a removable rear winch. It’s all about getting serious…
15. The Grenadier has four recovery points – two at each end. Each can take 4.5 tonnes of load at up to 45 degrees, something that required significant engineering work. It means multiple vehicles can be used to extricate it from a bog.
16. The Grenadier has a ‘toot’ button. In addition to a regular horn, which is suitably loud and activated from the centre of the steering wheel, the toot button is activated via a smaller red button on the wheel and gives a more polite warning that the car is coming. It was designed for cyclists and when the full blaring of the horn isn’t required.
17. The tailgate-mounted spare wheel incorporates a storage box for anything wet, muddy or dusty you don’t want in the main cabin.
18. The Grenadier has a thoroughly useful payload of between 833kg and 932kg. It can also tow up to 3500kg. When towing the maximum and with a 350kg downball weight you can still carry upwards of 433kg in the cabin.
19. The Grenadier may use BMW engines but they don’t make as much power as the same engines in vehicles with a BMW badge. That’s because INEOS reduced the peak engine rev limit – and, in turn, peak power – in the quest for engine longevity. The thinking was customers would not miss the additional power but would appreciate having an engine that may last a little longer.
20. The exterior bolts on the doors are for visual effect only, because INEOS didn’t want people to be able to access the cabin by unbolting the doors.
21. The centre console has a key lock for valuables. It’s also water resistant so it can keep things dry if the cabin is getting a hose-out.
22. An optional auxiliary battery can be added on the driver’s side beneath the back seat. It’s standard on the Trialmaster.
23. There are five drain holes in the floor of the Grenadier to make hosing it out that little bit easier.
24. The Grenadier comes standard with Bridgestone all-terrain tyres, but buyers can also option BFGoodrich KO2 light-truck rubber, complete with white writing on the sidewalls.
25. The two-seat commercial variants can take a full-size Euro pallet. Five-seat versions of the commercial wagon also have their back seats shifted forward by 70mm to maximise luggage capacity.
26. A locking centre differential is standard. Front and rear diff locks are optional and also included as part of the Trialmaster pack.
27. The Grenadier has 30/70-split tailgate doors, each opening to 102 degrees. The smaller section needs to be opened first, allowing the loading and unloading of smaller items.
28. The Grenadier gets a 90-litre fuel tank, which should provide up to 850km of range for the diesel (which requires AdBlue). Engineers say it’s fairly tight underneath, one reason there are no plans to offer a factory-supplied larger tank.
29. An optional storage binnacle inside the spare wheel provides an additional 20 litres of locked luggage capacity.
30. The Grenadier has a water fording mode. If the engine temperature is below a set threshold it will temporarily stop the underbonnet thermo fan from spinning to reduce the chances of blade damage when it hits the water.
31. The diesel-powered Grenadier’s thermo fan currently runs loud and long after parking the car. Engineers say it is due to a software issue that will be resolved by the time customer deliveries start.
32. The rest for the driver’s left foot is unnaturally high. That’s to allow space underneath for the BMW exhaust. Changing the exhaust would have led to prohibitively expensive emissions recalibration.
33. The Grenadier’s bonnet, doors, front fenders and rear doors are aluminium. The roof and rear quarter panels are made of steel.
34. The Grenadier gets a plastic front bumper in most markets, but for Australia it gets a standard steel bumper due to the prevalence of animal strikes.
35. One of the accessories designed specifically for the Australian market was a roo bar. There are dozens of other accessories, including a surfboard rack, folding mount for external aerials, rock sliders and quick release tie-down rings.
36. The electrical system has been designed to easily add accessories. The roof-mounted light bar, for example, can be plugged in to the wiring already supplied.
37. The Grenadier can be optioned with checker plates for either side of the bonnet. Whereas those on the latest Land Rover Defender are made of plastic, for the Grenadier they’re metal and allow people to stand on that section of the nose.
38. There are no mirrors in the sun visors of the Grenadier. It was understood to be a request from company boss Sir Ratcliffe, who questioned anyone would need mirrors for an off-road vehicle.
39. The optional safari roof panels above the driver and front seat passenger allow more light into the cabin. There are currently no sun shades available, but INEOS is looking into solutions for markets such as Australia.
40. Australian-delivered Grenadiers get six airbags: dual front, front side and side curtain. Our cars miss out on the knee airbags standard on vehicles sold in the US and Canada.
41. There are no active driver assistance systems yet on the Grenadier. But they are coming. INEOS says it will add autonomous emergency braking for MY24 vehicles. However, there will be no radar (so still no adaptive cruise control) with the auto braking system instead being camera-based.
42. Lane keeping assistance will also be added for MY24. But it won’t work with the actual steering system due to the limitations of the recirculating ball steering hardware. Instead, INEOS will employ the braking system, applying brake pressure to one side of the vehicle to have the same effect of providing mild steering assistance.
43. There are no electric seats for the Grenadier. They were left off the features list because of the hose-down functionality of the lower part of the cabin. It also makes one less thing to go wrong.
44. The Grenadier is available with a ‘raised air intake’, but don’t go calling it a snorkel. The unit is not sealed from water so won’t provide protection for water crossings. Instead, it’s about keeping dust further from the side air intake. There’s also a proper snorkel available as an accessory.
45. The Grenadier doesn’t use sensors to determine when the diff locks are doing their thing. Instead, it uses the wheel speed sensors to compare the speeds of each wheel and determine whether the locks have actually locked. It means you may have to drive for a while before the car determines if the diffs have been locked or unlocked.
46. On its front guard the Grenadier has a badge that melds the German and UK flags. It reinforces the heritage of the car, which includes British design and German engineering. It is being manufactured in the old Daimler smart factory in Hambach, France, something acknowledged with the colours of the French flag in a sticker on the rear window.
47. The Grenadier uses an in-house designed ladder chassis that was designed for the rigours of off-road driving. Engineers spent three years getting the chassis right.
48. INEOS proudly favours analogue over digital in many parts of the cabin. The 4L low-range selector is a traditional gear lever and incorporates the centre locking differential activator. The rear and front differential locks are engaged by pressing a button on the roof. Starting the Grenadier requires sliding a key into the dash, while the handbrake is an old-school lever.
49. There are grab handles for three of the four doors of the Grenadier. Designers decided against one for the driver, arguing the steering wheel can perform the same job.
50. The 12.3-inch centre display screen was supplied by Neusoft. As well as Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity, the right-hand side of the screen doubles as the instrument cluster. There’s also a smaller cluster in front of the driver for warnings and important ‘telltales’ such as whether the differentials are locked.
51. The gear selector on the Grenadier is borrowed from BMW. However, despite having the Sport mode setting on the panel that surrounds the stick (paired with the Manual mode when you shift the lever to one side) there is no sport setting. Instead, it’s left to the driver to choose when to override the ZF auto.
52. There’s no dual-zone climate control in the Grenadier; the ventilation system is single-zone only. So the left-hand side of the car needs to be in temperature sync with the right.
53. The Grenadier has a basic four-speaker sound system (there’s a speaker in each door). But for MY24 cars there will be an optional subwoofer to boost audio depth and quality.
54. The steering in the Grenadier was chosen primarily for off-roading. Rather than the ubiquitous rack-and-pinion system it uses a truck-like recirculating ball system. There’s about 3.8 turns lock-to-lock – almost double that of some passenger cars and regular SUVs – which INEOS says was done deliberately to make it more predictable in rougher terrain.
55. Rear seats in the Grenadier are fixed, so can’t be slid forward and back.
56. Air-vents on either side of the tailgate are designed to release pressure when closing the doors, while also allowing for fresh air to be pumped into the cabin.
57. INEOS provides a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Any approved accessories are also covered by a five-year warranty.
58. INEOS has appointed dozens of outlets and parts distributors, many of which are in regional areas. It says it wants to be able to deliver spare parts within 24 hours.
59. INEOS is providing owners and third-party mechanics online service manuals and 3D images with guides on how to repair or replace components. It’s all about keeping vehicles running in harsh conditions.
60. The Grenadier pub in London that was the location of the first meeting about the first vehicle from INEOS has been sold – to INEOS. There are still thousands of notes in various currencies pinned to the ceiling. One of those notes contains an early sketch of the Grenadier.
For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales’ Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast
Join the conversation at our Facebook page Or email us at [email protected]
Keyword: New INEOS Grenadier: Everything you need to know