Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton looks right at home in the latest video from Ineos. The audience is treated to a special looking moment between Lewis and Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, as the two look comfortable enough together to be in a new buddy comedy. There’s a bit of ribbing between the pair about Lewis potentially hitting a pole while doing a hand brake slide in the Grenadier, and we get some great on and off-road shots of this exciting new SUV.
What exactly is the Ineos Grenadier? We’ll try to cover that a bit more in depth later on. In the meantime, here are some cliff notes. This is a decidedly British looking (Land Rover Defender anyone?), BMW powered, body on frame 4-wheel drive SUV that is the introductory offer from Ineos as a vehicle manufacturer. Ineos, the parent company of Ineos Automotive Limited (we’ll refer to the manufacturer as Ineos from here on out to avoid confusion) is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered in London. As one can imagine, there are many brands under the Ineos name, this relatively new venture is just a drop in the very large Ineos bucket.
What Does The Ineos Grenadier Have To Do With Sir Lewis Hamilton?
Other than being an icon of British motoring, why would Ineos be so excited to connect Sir Lewis Hamilton with the Grenadier? The answer is quite simple, Ineos is a principal sponsor of Hamilton’s Formula 1 team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas. The branding partnership makes complete sense, who else would they choose to be a familiar face when it comes to lending credibility to an up-and-coming niche automaker.
Ineos Automotive Limited was launched in 2017, something of a passion project for Ineos co-founder Jim Radcliffe. The company’s main focus is developing what will become the Ineos Grenadier, a relatively simple, off-road, utilitarian vehicle. Radcliffe, along with a team of automotive professionals and engineers, have pointed out a gap in the market for a vehicle such as this one. Among other things, they’re leveraging their relationship with the Mercedes-AMG F1 team to help promote this all new off-roader. Demand and excitement is already growing, both in the domestic Grenadier market and worldwide. Ineos is promising an exciting new take on vehicle manufacturing, the Grenadier team has a wide variety of characters with a very pointed goal. To create a rugged new off-road vehicle, the likes of which have been seen before, although not quite the same as they have been in the past.
The Ineos Grenadier, A Spiritual Successor To The Land Rover Defender
As far as we can tell, Ineos is hardly hiding the fact that the Grenadier looks so much like a Land Rover Defender that many people would mistake it for the classic British SUV. Beyond the strikingly similar looks, the Grenadier is positioned to take on a similar role as the old Defender. Ineos is after a specific market with the Grenadier, the buyers that are sick of ultra softened, ultra luxury SUVs like the new G-Wagen.
The Ineos Grenadier is based on a simple, bare-bones body on frame chassis. Instead of modern independent air suspension, the Grenadier makes due with old school technology. Coil springs, live axles, full time 4-wheel drive, and locking differentials are all standard on the Grenadier, making it just as capable as you’d think it would be. Ineos has spent vast amounts of their budget and design process to make sure that the Grenadier has all the right pieces to be the reliable, capable, simple SUV that they think the world is after. Something that is more Defender than a current model Defender. The Grenadier will be offered with BMW powerplants, with both diesel and gas engines offered. The company is also promising a hydrogen powered Grenadier for the future.
What Does Lewis Hamilton Think About The Ineos Grenadier?
In his own words, here’s what Sir Lewis Hamilton has to say about the Grenadier –
I’m genuinely enjoying driving this car, it’s very comfortable considering some of the huge dips we were driving down… I was pretty much flat out around the course. I’m massively surprised at how much grip there is.
Strong words from the 7 time world champion. Radcliffe also had his own comments about Hamilton driving the Ineos Grenadier, mentioning that they hadn’t seen anyone push the car so hard on the road, it’s designed to be highly capable off-road, but no one has shown how good it can perform on pavement.
As for the rest of us, we’ll have to wait a little longer to get a real driving impression of the Ineos Grenadier. Production has already started, with the first examples already rolling off of the production line. Ineos expects to start to deliver customer vehicles this December.