It’s unusual when you can drive a car off the road but not on it.
The British company Ineos brought its made-in-France, BMW-powered Grenadier SUVs to Ellenville, New York’s 75-acre Northeast Off-Road Adventures in pre-production form, without airbags, and that kept them off the public roads—though fording backwoods streams was fine. We were close to the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, and that famous mud was everywhere in abundance.
These boxy off-roaders, which echo the much-loved, made-until-2016 Land Rover Defender in both appearance and performance, will be sold globally and debut in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of this year at a price starting around US$70,000. This is a new company, and Ineos’ manufacturing partner is Austria’s experienced Magna Steyr. The factory will be able to produce up to 33,000 Grenadiers annually, once double factory shifts at the Hambach plant (purchased from Mercedes-Benz) begin this month. Shades of Hummer and Rivian, a pickup model is coming. And, far in the future, a three-row SUV.
The Grenadier is powered by the BMW B58 turbocharged three-liter straight that appears in a wide range of models, including the X5 and X7, the 540i, 640i, and 740i, and the Z4 (along with its Toyota GR Supra partner). In this guise, it produces 282 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque, and can reach 60 mph in 8.2 seconds (with a 99-mph top speed). A diesel alternative is available in Europe, and Ineos has also built Grenadiers with fuel-cell power (the company has green hydrogen production in its portfolio) and electric drivetrains. The latter is a good bet for production.
The Trailmaster, with three differential locks and one of those snorkel air intake tubes for fording streams of up to 31 inches, is the serious off-roading model. With heated leather seats, carpeted floor mats, and a leather-trimmed steering wheel, the Fieldmaster is the “luxury” alternative to the Trailmaster’s Spartan take—though that’s quite relative.. But if you want to be coddled, buy a Range Rover.
The substantial body-on-frame Grenadier weighs 5,700 pounds, which means that fuel economy won’t be great, probably around 19 miles per gallon when certified by the EPA. Tim Pettit, a product specialist, said that the vehicle is “almost over-engineered,” with a steel-welded body shell on a robust steel lattice frame chassis. Looking underneath, vital components seem well-protected. The gas tank is perhaps the most vulnerable, but it sports a substantial skid plate.
Greg Clark, executive vice president of Ineos, said the idea for the Grenadier was hatched at the pub bearing that name in London. Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe heads Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemical companies with $65 billion in annual sales. He’s a big fan of the original Defender and was decrying the fact that it had been discontinued. The carmaker was launched in 2017.
“They approached Jaguar Land Rover and asked if it was possible to get the rights to resurrect the Defender, and got turned down,” said Clark. “So instead they started with a blank sheet of paper.”
Pre-orders have started, requiring a $450 deposit, and 8,000 reservations have been made. The Ellenville event was also a way for reservation holders to give their prospective purchases an off-road spin. They were plenty muddy.
Jaguar Land Rover maintains its own off-road track in Vermont, and as it happens a new Defender was recently taken through it during the height of Covid. Ellenville wasn’t terribly arduous, but the Grenadier acquitted itself well on the muddy paths and the tight turns. It felt very solid, despite being a pre-production example, and there were no squeaks or rattles.
The controls are no-nonsense aircraft-type and extend into the roof. They’re utilitarian, with the exception of the shifter—which is a familiar BMW item. One thing the controls offer is a controlled downhill assist, which takes over and navigates the trail at two to 11 mph. After a few miles of trail, we entered the tougher section and professional driver Emilie Graham took over. She’s a Maryland-based gardener when not making off-roading look easy.
The Grenadier offers up to 71 cubic feet of load space. It can be equipped with all manner of rough road aids, including jerry cans of fuel, shovels, and a roof canopy. It comes with four exterior power outlets. Towing capacity is 7,716 pounds, and 12,125 pounds can be winched. If the message isn’t clear yet, this is a serious off-roader, preparing to take on trails around the world.
Source: Barrons
Recent Comments