Your thoughts on the Ineos Grenadier?

[Forty Deuce]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/ineos-grenadier-2021

Ladies & Gents,
I offer for your consideration the Ineos Grenadier. While still in the development stage the developers are pretty bold about claiming it will be on the market in 2021, COVID complications not withstanding. I have to ask, what are your thoughts of this beast? The resemblance to the Defender is so clear that JLR sued over it begging the question, if a 2021 version of the “real” Defender was possible then why did JLR not just do so? I’ve driven the 2021 Defender and it’s a respectable steed despite my initial reluctance to like it. (This isn’t too different than my initial discontent with Daniel Craig as James Bond but I turned out to be painfully wrong about that too.) It appears that it was quite possible all along if this Grenadier comes to fruition. My heart longs for a Land Rover Defender but all things considered this looks like an awful tempting option. Do you think this is a real threat to JLR sales of the new Defender platform?

 

[DaytonaRS7]

i think there is a recent thread about this already.

obviously a great car for anyone who wants a "true" defender.

JLR has been making more refined cars for years now. steps above the crude-ness of the classic defender (and assuming Ineos). 95% of LR sales are to people that want luxury, but know they have the ability to off-road if need be. the other 5% are the ones that actually use the cars to their ability. that 5% of sales for people that may consider the Ineos, isn't going to hurt JLR.

however, i do see it as an alternative to some one who is looking at a loaded jeep (rubicon) or new Bronco, and has a little extra cash to play with.

With that said, I added my name to the list for Ineos updates.
my wife loves the old defender 110, but cant justify the cost for an old car if its an updated/rebuilt example. She also likes the G-wagon. Which is in a different class, but still a boxy, off road capable truck. She is also only looking at cars like this for the status and style...so throw her into the pool of 95% of buyers that wouldn't use any of these cars to its ability.

 

[djkaosone]

It's a great looking truck! I'm glad they found a (surprising) loophole where JLR didn't trademark the original Defender. I hope they get this so right that it'll make JLR think about it's "trademark" looks.

It's a niche market to find a high priced and high end vehicle that's meant to be a workhorse in agriculture, off roading, military, etc... Somehow this also attracts the richer folks. Either way, it was mentioned that it'll only produce up to 25,000 vehicles a year and with that planned out. It should a budgetary thing if they want to continue after the first year and it seems like the owner pretty much wants to make an official toy for himself to share.

 

[Troy A]

i think there is a recent thread about this already.

I did a search and think that most of the Ineos chatter was over in the Defender and Bronco threads. Since we now have a a dedicated Bronco thread and a lot of the Defender discussion has moved into the Defender forum, seems like having this as a dedicated Ineos Grenadier thread should work.

To that end....episiode 5 is now out - the engine.

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[DaytonaRS7]

I did a search and think that most of the Ineos chatter was over in the Defender and Bronco threads. Since we now have a a dedicated Bronco thread and a lot of the Defender discussion has moved into the Defender forum, seems like having this as a dedicated Ineos Grenadier thread should work.

To that end....episiode 5 is now out - the engine.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

you are correct. the Ineos was discussed in the defender thread. i just remembered it had been brought up.

 

[PaulLR3]

Just when you thought living with British build quality was an adventure, maybe try French build quality for even more issues...apparently Ineos got a deal on the vacant Smart Car factory in France:

 

[PaulLR3]

I doubt we will even see this for sale in the US. Who is going to market it and where do you get all the warranty repairs done?

 

[Troy A]

Just when you thought living with British build quality was an adventure, maybe try French build quality for even more issues...apparently Ineos got a deal on the vacant Smart Car factory in France:

It gets better JLR (or probably Tata) just hired the former CEO from...wait for it....RENAULT. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ames-ousted-renault-boss-as-ceo-idUSKCN24T14J


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[ryanjl]

I doubt we will even see this for sale in the US. Who is going to market it and where do you get all the warranty repairs done?

Who knows. Tesla has made it work, but Tesla both sells a ton more vehicles than Ineos could dream of selling on its best year, and Teslas are electric, and thus probably have a lot fewer engine troubles.

The engine in the Grenadier is a BMW*. Maybe Ineos will work out a deal with BMW dealerships for service? Or maybe Ineos will just have "approved" mechanics in every major metro who are authorized to do warranty work?

I'm still very skeptical of this thing ever being sold in the U.S.

*Why, oh why BMW? If there's an engine I feel is less reliable than Land Rover, it's BMW. My guess is BMW on a global level has no vehicles that are in the same category as the Grenadier, so BMW was willing to play ball.

 

[PaulLR3]

I think I read that Land Rover also plans to replace the current Ford-base engines with BMW engines. I always had good luck with Audi engines, too bad they don't sell their engines to other brands.