Land Rover Defender reborn?

Wednesday, 1 July 2020

Ineos Automotive has just revealed its take on a rugged, utilitarian off-roader - the all-new Grenadier.

Are you still suffering from the traumatic effects of Land Rover replacing the old Defender with an actual modern vehicle?

Well, petrochemical giant Ineos may just have the solution to your angst - meet the Grenadier, a rugged, utilitarian 4WD that may look more than a little familiar to Defender fans. Or, indeed, anyone who has ever seen a Defender…

The Ineos Grenadier is the brainchild of the billionaire founder of Ineos, Jim Ratcliffe, who was bemoaning the demise of the Land Rover Defender - and the reduction of availability of utilitarian 4X4 workhorses in general - with some mates in the pub one day, when he decided to do something about it.

Ineos plans for the pick-up version to quickly be on sale alongside the wagon.

While for most of us, the brilliant ideas we hatch in the pub stay there, things are a bit different for billionaire petrochemical company CEOs, so Ratcliffe pushed ahead with the development of the Grenadier and now the company has revealed the final design for the first time, 18 months out from the start of production.

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Those black rubbing strips on the Grenadier's doors aren't actually rubbing strips - they are rails for external attachments.

So what are they showing it so early?

'The exterior is finished - simple as that - so why not show it?' said Ineos Automotive (a new subsidiary of the Ineos Group) CEO Dirk Heilmann.

'Eighteen months before start of production is quite early to show a vehicle, earlier than you would be used to, but a quite practical side effect is that it enables us to test in plain sight.

Ineos has aimed for practical and rugged with the Grenadier, but says it will have all the expected modern safety measures as well.

To that end, Heilmann added that Ineos was currently embarking on a 1.8 million kilometre programme to extensively test durability and reliability, something the company says is the most important element for it to get right.

'If you're going to have a proper off-road vehicle that gets you in and back, then it goes without saying that it needs to be bloody durable and reliable. Durability is absolutely the key to get right,' said Ineos Automotive commercial director Mark Tennant.

'There has been an explosion of SUVs into the market in recent years, of very mixed off-road capabilities - some very good ones, some less good ones and some more crossover-type vehicles - all probably united by ride height and driving position more than anything else.

'But we wanted to go back to something a bit purer, with a focus on the off-road capability first and foremost.'

Flat surfaces were important for Ineos. You need to put your coffee cup somewhere when out in the bush.

That focus on form over function has led to a very familiar form, something that Heilmann says is simply a result of the engineering-led approach Ineos has taken.

“Early on we defined the engineering and chassis, so we simply looked for easy-to-read forms that everybody understands.

“You need straight lines to put things on - coffee mugs and laptops - these are practical elements that simply carry on from what others have done in the past.

“Looking at solutions for Land Cruiser and Land Rover and you go through that history, you end up in a similar position and find similar results. It’s a boxy 4x4 and so you’ll also see cues from Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. You can move things around, but you still end up in the same place.”

Although a roof rack will fit, Ineos says it isn't really necessary and a load can be tied straight onto the Grenadier's roof rails.

In terms of underpinnings, the Grenadier sits on a traditional ladder chassis and packs a steel body with aluminium 'hang-on' parts, such as doors and the bonnet. It will be powered by a choice of either diesel or petrol BMW six-cylinder engines hooked up to an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission.

A manual was considered, but the decision to go automatic-only was driven by the fact autos have more appeal to fleet manager, with fleets making up a big part of Ineos' plans for the Grenadier.

'In terms of the BMW engines, these are the 3.0-litre straight-six petrol and diesel (B57 and B58), so they are completely up to date,' said Tennant.

Undeniably handsome and rugged. Is the Grenadier the Defender Land Rover should have built?

'One of the beauties of the BMW relationship is that it is a technical partnership, as well as an engine supply. We are not getting old engines, these are bang up to date in terms of emissions regulations and performance.'

And speaking or performance, Ineos was not giving anything away on that front just year, with Tennant saying that power outputs were still to be determined during the test programme.

'Clearly we are going to have a slightly different set of requirements for this vehicle in terms of power and torque than applications that BMW have for the same engines in its products,' he said.

'We are going to be focussing on maximising the torque output and the accessibility of that torque at a low range. And maybe top-end power is secondary to that.'

Heilmann added that Ineos had its eyes on the BMW sixes very early on in its planning and concerns that the sophisticated German engines may not be in keeping with Ineos' rugged, reliable approach were unfounded.

'They are very sophisticated engines, but they have also proven very durable and very reliable,' he said before adding 'when it comes to fulfilling US and European regulations, the vehicles can't be from the Stone Age.'

Was a greener form of propulsion ever under consideration?

'We are launching with the diesel and petrol BMW straight sixes because, for the working tool this vehicle needs to be, we just don't think the technology or infrastructure will do the job just yet,' said Tennant.

'At this point, we believe the internal combustion engine is the way to go to give us a start in the market.'

But that is not to say that it will stay that way.

'We're not Luddites, we're not technology-averse, and we recognise that the time is coming when the illustrious internal combustion engine will be gone, so we are looking at other technologies for the future, including electric and hydrogen.

'Hydrogen fuel cells are actually something we are engaged in, and we have support from the British government to do a feasibility study into hydrogen fuel cells.'

Heilmann said that Ineos is committed to providing servicing wherever in the world it sells the Grenadier, but wouldn't be drawn on further details as to what that would entail.

As well as BMW and ZF, Ineos has also partnered with European tractor manufacturer Carraro to supply the heavy-duty axles for the Grenadier, while Magna has been engaged to do the development work on the vehicle.

Ineos plans to start selling the Grenadier in Europe first and ramp up for global sales from there.

'We are into prototype testing now and are about 18 months away from entering production,' said Tennant.

'In terms of entering the Australian and New Zealand markets, I think we will be looking at early 2022. That's out tactic.'

Which leads to the biggest question - how much will the Grenadier cost when it lands here?

'We are not going to be competing with double cab utes in price, but we won't be up there with the G Wagen,' said Tennant, before going on to say that it would likely be priced above the likes of a Ranger Wildtrak, but close in price to the likes of a Jeep Wrangler or Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series.

'It was important to me that we be priced in the middle of all the vehicles we discussed,' added Heilmann.

'It cannot disappear up into the stratosphere like the G Wagen, because that's not right for what we want this vehicle to be.