The soon-to-be revealed Ineos Grenadier has been spied wearing heavy camouflage during testing in Austria.
If you’ve been following this story, you’ll know the idea is that Ineos, a chemical company (don’t ask), plans to build an uncompromising off-road vehicle with inspiration being drawn from both the Defender (the old one) and the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. And you only have to get an eye-ful of these spy pics to see that.
No amount of camo can hide the big and boxy shape of the thing. Look at the front of the vehicle and at its front fenders and you can see there’s more than a little bit of the Defender in the design.
Earlier this year, Ineos released a video showing off the Grenadier’s box-section ladder-frame chassis and beam axle front and rear suspension setup. In the video, the Grenadier’s chief engineer, Andreas Albrecht, said, “A ladder frame is the only way to build a proper off-road vehicle 4×4. We are not using a monocoque, because we are not building an SUV”.
The Grenadier will be built at a new factory in Wales and will run BMW’s 3.0-litre straight-six diesel engine. To get the vehicle from concept to completion, Ineos has drafted in Magna Steyr, which was responsible for the G-Class and Supra.
The full reveal is expected later this year with deliveries to start in 2021.
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