Words by Marcus Boothby
If you haven’t seen, there’s a new off-road toy for rich people out, in the form of the INEOS Grenadier and it screams of Land Rover Defender. No, not the new Defender, but the old one, which went out of production a few years ago.
I have a few personal issues with the Grenadier and I’m going to flesh them out as I’ve had time to think about it since the reveal just over a week ago.
First of all, the obvious one is the styling of the new Grenadier. There’s no beating about the bush here but it looks near identical to the old Defender. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad styling choice but surely this could raise some questions over at Land Rover, who I’m sure still owns the rights to the overall shape and design of the classic Defender. Sure, the Grenadier is a slightly more modernised version of said design, with rounded edges and LED lights up front and back, but to me, the Grenadier and Defender are too similar. Howver, JLR can’t sue as they never registered the iconic Defender shape as their IP.
Secondly, I’m not sure who this car will appeal to. Sure, it’s got a modern chassis with a decent looking suspension set-up and a range of BMW petrol and diesel engines, but it’s rivals offer more and are already proven in the market. Look at the new Defender, the latest Jeep Wrangler and even the Mercedes G-Wagen. All have proven themselves over decades of development and solid customer base. The customer base for the Grenadier can’t be that big, especially that starting prices are said to start at about £40,000, with a production run starting in 2021, I say it’s too late to the party.
Thirdly, the production of the Grenadier is currently up in the air. The car was supposed to be built in Wales or Portugal but now, there are talks of it being built in the former Smart factory in France. Everything seems unclear at the moment, and could a be a hit to the local economy in Wales as the factory could bring in 500 new jobs to the proposed area.
Fourthly, will the INEOS Grenadier actually survive on sale? I highly doubt as the UK is set to ban the sale of internal combustion engine powered cars by the 2030s, which is less than 10 years away. So with a limited UK market, there only remains the African, Middle East and American markets to cover, with America being the toughest to enter. If INEOS want the Grenadier to sell there, they’ll need to put more money into the product, but it’ll face tough competition from the Jeep Wrangler, upcoming Ford Bronco and even light-duty pickup trucks in the form of the Ford Ranger and Chevrolet Colorado.
And lastly, the bloke behind INEOS and the Grenadier project is the embodiment of everything wrong with Britain at the moment. Not only did he basically steal the design of the Defender from Land Rover, he’s also a massive Brexiteer, with an ego the size of the United Kingdom. He’s up there with Mark Ashley (Sports Direct and Newcastle United) and Tim Martin (Wetherspoons). Just because he’s a multi-billionaire, it doesn’t mean he can go about making a product that could likely be vapourware.
We’re going to pay close attention to INEOS’s Defender clone and see what happens to this company over the next year or so. We don’t think it’ll last, and more importantly, you’re probably better off either buying a new Defender or going to an aftermarket company like the Chelsea Truck Company.