When Daimler withdrawing from full ownership of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2021, captain Toto Wolff and Sir Jim Ratcliffe join, each taking a 33.3% stake. That Ratcliffe is the owner of the chemical giant Ineos, the same gentlemen who want to buy Land Rover Defender and when he couldn’t, he opened a division called Ineos Automotive to build the Grenadier off-road vehicle. These few degrees of separation are how we get the video of the CEO going to shoot in the Grenadier with Mercedes-AMG F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
Now, we all know how these things work – the charismatic salaried ambassador stomps on some pedals, rattles some tires, throws some dirt, then says the following things: begins, “I didn’t expect …” and “I’m really impressed by…. “And yes, that happens here. Still, the scenes between the talks show that Grenadier can be as well organized as the CEO wants us to believe. For an SUV that was born to be an almost basic labor horse on a farm or construction site or on an old-fashioned overland expedition Defender, Hamilton puts Grenadier through a few moves that no one can try in Landie unless they’re dodging bullets. We haven’t piloted the Grenadier yet, so we can’t be sure. What we do know is that we are intrigued. Ratcliffe may have merely brought sound to the camera, but even he said, “We didn’t know it was going to be as good as it was on the road.”
The Grenadier is currently manufactured at the company’s facility in Hambach, France. Deliveries are expected to begin next month, with reports suggesting the rig will arrive in the US next year. Built on the basics of a ladder chassis with 10.4 inches of ground clearance, two solid axles and a distinct standard in the locking center, coil spring suspension improves ergonomics. The pavement level and options panel will provide front and rear differential locks. Two BMW car engine will be offered in international markets, the 3.0-liter inline-six B58 petrol with 282 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque that we know from trips like BMW X7 and Toyota Supraand B57 3.0 liters diesel oil with 245 hp and 406 lb-ft. Both shift gears through an eight-speed ZF transmission that’s been retuned to emphasize early torque distribution in the rev range. We Americans will only get gasoline engines.
Ineos Automotive website shows that the company is prioritizing customer service as much as all-terrain handling. Base guarantee is five years with no mileage mentioned, even though 60,000 miles is rumor figure. The paintwork is backed by a three-year warranty – odd for a horse, the warranty against punctures and rust lasts for 12. In cooperation with parts workshops and parts logistics companies, the company says. Stores will stock regular products, and “we’ll aim to provide up to 48-hour delivery on any products we don’t have on the shelf.” There will be technicalities “Flying Spanners” members fly to remote locations for emergency service. And talk about the right to be fix: Every component in each Grenadier is “broken down on screen in an online interactive animated 3D repair manual” and the maintenance engineering team at Ineos will make calls and queries online.
Grenadier wagon base load with two seats starting from £55,000 in UKfive-seater standard starts at £58,000, the latter £1,280 less than the base Unlimited Jeep Wrangler there, £4,710 less than a base Toyota land cruiser. Early pricing for US models is expected early next year, US configurator is now open.
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