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Ineos Automotive has simply began delivering its Grenadier wagon to Australians after a number of months of delays, however for a lot of consumers it’s the (formally) yet-to-be-revealed dual-cab ute that’s of better curiosity.
Anticipated to emerge within the subsequent month or two and enter sequence manufacturing by 12 months’s finish, the oft-spied Grenadier pickup shapes as a little bit of a distinct segment proposition inside Australia’s booming ute market – which accounts for about one-in-five of recent automobile gross sales.
“Its significance for the Australian market is immense… I feel that we’ve received one thing that’s fairly a singular proposition as properly,” Ineos Automotive Asia Pacific boss Justin Hocevar instructed us this week, including that extra information concerning the automobile was “imminent”.
The Grenadier ute can have clear stylistic variations to mainstream dual-cabs just like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger – to not point out heavier responsibility specs and better costs – and may supply higher loading and towing talents than the same boxy Jeep Gladiator.
Whereas it will likely be priced extra carefully to the vary of bigger American pickups coming into the market, all of which supply robust towing credentials, the Grenadier ought to have them coated for off-road capacity – when it comes to potential angles of assault, articulation and so forth.
If something the Grenadier dual-cab ute shapes as a extra refined and trendy competitor to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Sequence dual-cab – an agricultural automobile, however however one providing heavyweight functionality and subsequently dominates rural Australia.
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Supply: Ineos Grenadier House owners Membership
“We don’t have the legacy of their story, however we’ve definitely received an enormous funding in top quality tools and I feel that individuals have been actually drawn to that,” Mr Hocevar claimed. In a fortuitous piece of timing, Toyota has needed to pause LC70 orders on account of low manufacturing charges.
“So I prefer to assume that we’ve virtually lived in between the place the Thailand [sourced] and the massive American stuff is now, and there’s not quite a lot of selection within the area that we intend to occupy. The community is extremely amped up and prepared for this automobile, significantly all of the regional guys.”
“We’ve received very robust order numbers right here in Australia, [but] we’ve nonetheless received a really robust reservation quantity,” Mr Hocevar added, referring to folks that apparently put down Grenadier deposits when the wagon went on sale – for the unrevealed ute as a substitute.
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Authentic Ineos pickup render
“These had been folks that put down that $800 reservation price again in October 2021, there’s an enormous variety of these folks that… have parked that cash there with us for a few years practically to be first cab off the rank on the subject of the dual-cab.”
“That’s a extremely robust indicator to us that there’s some individuals on the market which can be hanging out for this automobile.”
We clearly don’t know precisely how a lot the Grenadier ute will value, however for context the station wagon opens at $98,000 for the bottom mannequin with no choices – which means it’ll doubtless be a six-figure automobile as soon as on-road prices are factored in.
Anticipate the Grenadier pickup to share a lot of the similar specs because the Grenadier wagon – engines, axles, front-half panels, inside – however to additionally supply an extended wheelbase and a better payload than the wagon’s 932kg inventory most.
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Grenadier wagon
The Grenadier wagon – the ute is a spinoff of the identical platform – gives BMW-sourced inline-six diesel (183kW and 550Nm) and petrol (210kW and 450Nm) engines, mated to eight-speed automated transmissions and 4×4 with low-range.
It has Carraro beam axles at each ends suspended with five-link Eibach coils, a box-section ladder chassis, everlasting 4×4 with a Tremec switch case, three diff locks, a gross automobile mass of 3550kg, and a 3500kg towing capacity.
Background
Australia is among the essential world markets for the rugged Grenadier, billed by some as a religious successor to the unique Land Rover Defender.
The Grenadier is the brainchild of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire engineer and chairman of multinational petrochemical large Ineos. No expense has been spared on his ardour venture.
The official story says Ratcliffe was hanging out in London’s Grenadier pub in 2017, bemoaning Land Rover’s determination to kill the previous Defender and change it with the extra trendy and opulent new SUV mannequin when he determined to carry the automobile to life.
Ineos Automotive Australia will probably be a manufacturing unit operation fairly than an impartial distributor. The corporate has round 30 model shops in Australia promoting by way of a fixed-price company mannequin, together with 5 in capital cities and 25 in regional hubs, reflecting the Grenadier’s target market.
Manufacturing Grenadiers are constructed at an previous Mercedes-Benz plant in Hambach, France, which was bought by Ineos. Since 2019 the plant has obtained a claimed A$770 million in upgrades, funded by each Mercedes-Benz and Ineos.
MORE: Ineos Grenadier deliveries begin in Australia
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