Ineos Projekt Grenadier

jack_christie

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The initial lightbulb moment came when Ratcliffe was down the pub (a pub called The Grenadier in fact, hence the name), and was mourning the death of the original Land Rover Defender. In essence, his passion project will be a work-horse of a 4x4.

A British-built off-roader with engines from BMW and some extra engineering input from the Germans at MBTech – the former subsidiary of Mercedes Benz
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/projekt-grenadier-4x4-will-use-bmw-engines


Ineos considering hydrogen version of Projekt Grenadier 4x4
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/ineos-confirms-bmw-engines-2021-projekt-grenadier-4x4

https://projektgrenadier.com/
 
Interesting to see what comes of this, but I suspect it will A) not come to the USDM and B) be way outside the price range of the average buyer.
 
Launch soon!

The INEOS Grenadier is in development, and we’re getting ready to take the covers off. But we can give you some pointers on what to expect in the meantime.

A box-section ladder frame. Permanent four-wheel drive.

Carraro beam axles fitted front and rear. A stripped back, boxy body.

Excellent towing and payload capacity, with power and torque to match. Room for a Euro-pallet. A tonne of payload and 3.5 tonnes of towing capacity to get the job done.

Class-leading approach, departure and ramp breakover angles for exceptional off-road capability. Able to overcome obstacles with the minimum effort.

BMW engine
https://ineosgrenadier.com




 
Eugh yeah they could've spent a bit more time on the styling. It looks like Defender (the shape) crossed with G-class (the bug eyes, the front bumper and the black strips down the sides) and the Dragon space vehicle with the odd curved bonnet and weird vents. No imagination really.

The track looks too narrow for the body too, it has wheelarch eyebrows but they aren't really needed. I'll be interested to see how the track compares with the Defender and Series Land Rovers.

Their shitty embedded video player on the site doesn't work properly either, doesn't let me scrub through the video...
 
"Hey, have you seen what Bollinger is doing? Let's make our own version."
 
Everything about the design makes sense to me. The low square front wings with a sloping hood that's low at the front combines engine bay space (compressors, dual batteries, wiring) with better forward visibility. Toyota has these long high hoods on the Tacoma and 4Runner - you can't see a damn thing in front of you. The low shoulder line and large windows again improve visibility off road and the high roof helps with interior space. The barn doors have been a feature on Land Cruisers since the FJ40 and are my second-favorite rear hatch after the clamshell.

I will be interested to see what wheels they put on, if it's anything more than 17" rims I will be very disappointed. I also want to know the fuel capacity and range. I'm not a fan of the BMW engine, I would have preferred Toyota or maybe a Cummins diesel.

They took the best features of vehicles that work and put them together, I would absolutely have one.
 
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It all makes sense but design wise it's basically the last gen Defender with the face of a Suzuki Jimmy. Hardly original.
 
The track looks too narrow for the body too, it has wheelarch eyebrows but they aren't really needed. I'll be interested to see how the track compares with the Defender and Series Land Rovers.

Isn't too narrow a track one of the Defender's big flaws?
 
Isn't too narrow a track one of the Defender's big flaws?

Width and in turn track was ideal for its purpose (modern big 4x4s are a tight squeeze off road) but the introduction of thicker door cards and such to give vague safety made the interior too small.

There's a certain irony in the price of this thing likely being higher than the old Defender.
 
That could be the factory my old Roadster was built in, and we all know how well that was nailed together...

I'm not sure what to say at this point, let's see if it's true. It's sounding more and more like a scam as it goes along.
 
Width and in turn track was ideal for its purpose (modern big 4x4s are a tight squeeze off road) but the introduction of thicker door cards and such to give vague safety made the interior too small.

There's a certain irony in the price of this thing likely being higher than the old Defender.

They must have mistakenly looked at Defenders on American Criagslist and priced it accordingly.
 
Andrew St. Pierre White just did a video on the Grenadier. For those who don't know, he's been an overland traveler since before the idea of "overlanding" was a thing, and he has a real soft spot for the Defender and Range Rover. His business is film making and building overland vehicles for himself and clients; and he probably has more off road miles under his wheels than most people have travel miles in their lives.

 
Brilliant video. I hope they take him up on it.
 
Andrew is fantastic and it's great to see how optimistic he is. I still think the design is lazy but if they get it right it will be great.
 
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