What is it?
The Ineos Grenadier Commercial is the third version of the new 4×4 brand’s initial model, following on from the Grenadier station wagon and Quartermaster pick-up.
It’s also the first ‘proper’ attempt at creating a light-commercial vehicle and arrives at a time when Ineos has got past its launch period and is beginning to focus more on the fleet opportunities that might be out there – at the launch event Ineos regional director Tom Johnson told Business Motoring that fleet will become more important in future.
The first Grenadier LCV was known as the Utility Wagon and consisted of not much more than moving the rear seats forward to increase the loadspace. While it qualified as an N1-level vehicle for commercial vehicle benefit-in-kind rates, buyers could not claim back the VAT on their purchase, so Ineos has now taken that model as a start point and created a proper vehicle that ticks that rather important VAT box.
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Business Motoring Award Winners 2024
Many readers might, however, wonder what is an Ineos Grenadier? The 4×4 SUV owes its existence to the Land Rover Defender – not the current curvy one but its iconic predecessor, the one JLR vehicle that could trace its lineage directly back to the original Land Rover of 1948.
When Land Rover ended production of its Defender in 2016, ahead of the launch of an all-new and effectively clean-sheet version in 2020, many mourned the loss of the old model, the original robust, go-anywhere vehicle – many a farmer, for example has a Land Rover they’ve kept using for many decades, and it’s either a Defender or one of its predecessors.
Among those Defender proponents was Ineos chemical giant founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and he decided to build his own Defender-like vehicle.
The Grenadier arrived on UK roads in 2023, it’s fair to say to very mixed reactions. Undaunted, Ineos has pursued its strategy of effectively replacing the original Defender – at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2024 a host of new Grenadier variants were showcased for specific applications, and now we have this new LCV variant.
Mechanically the Commercial is the same as the station wagon. It’s powered by a BMW-sourced 3-litre six-cylinder petrol or diesel engine. Our test vehicles were the latter, with 249hp and a very useful 550Nm of torque, mated to an eight-speed auto transmission. The petrol version offers 286hp and 450Nm.
Being a traditional ‘proper off-roader’ the vehicle is built around a ladder chassis and other off-road essentials include a low-range transmission, front and rear differential locks and such. The chassis comes with a 12-year corrosion warranty, the vehicle itself having a five-year unlimited warranty.
Turning the Grenadier into an LCV follows a well-worn route. Rather than rear seats there is a cargo floor, while the rearmost side windows are replaced by aluminium panels, with blacked-out door windows.
The full-length flat floor offers a payload capacity of up to 871kg (depending on specification) and in excess of 2,000 litres of volume – 1.6 metres long and 1.2 metres wide (claimed by Ineos as class-leading), it will take a standard 1,200mm x 800mm Euro pallet. Further carrying capacity is available atop the roof, with a ladder on the tailgate easing access.
There is also a floor-to-ceiling barrier fitted to ensure what’s in the load bay cannot join the occupants of the front seats. The cargo floor has-tie down eyes fitted with the option of a utility rail, whole the rear side doors are retained to improve access.
Ineos believes the Grenadier Commercial’s towing prowess is one of its stand-out features. It has a braked 3.5-tonne towing capacity and a gross capacity of 7 tonnes (and its towing prowess would be firmly demonstrated in the launch event…).
Even the tow hitch offers the option of UK ball, Euro style or receiver hitch for fitting a winch with a 5.5-tonne capacity, while the 70:30 format tailgate doors mean you can get in the back of the vehicle to grab a rachet strap or such like even with something hitched to it on a trailer.
Inside the Grenadier the driver’s controls really demonstrate the target market. There is an electronic touchscreen – a small one at the top of the centre console, and while it offers such things as Apple and Android smartphone compatibility, it doesn’t also follow today’s ever-accelerating trend of having all the important driving fuctions hidden within sub-menus on it.
All those functions, especially the off-road ones such as locking the differentials, are physical switches and dials mounted on two panels – one runs down the centre console and between the front seats, the other directly above it on the inside of the roof.
In fact there are not two panels but loads of them, because each switch (which only has a single function) has its own, secured by four bolts – more evidence of practicality, this means that should an individual control fail, you can simply unbolt its panel and replace it, rather that having to have the whole console out…
Such considerations for the target market exist all over the vehicle. The front bumper, for example is five pieces, so again if you damage one of them against a farm building, or a rock face, you replace the section, not the whole bumper.
Finally there are three specifications available, the base spec of our test vehicles and the Fieldmaster and Trailmaster grades already offered on the station wagon, along with a wide range of specific options aimed at the intended use, from off-road to extreme off-road.
What do we think of it?
This reviewer admits that having previously only driven a Grenadier around a field at the Blenheim Game Fair, and having read plenty of criticism of the vehicle, he approached his first drive of the Commercial with a degree of scepticism. But to an equal degree, surprise awaited…
It’s a proper off-road vehicle that you haul yourself up into, like a pick-up truck. The view from the driver’s seat is not surprisingly excellent, while to a reviewer who has become used to minimalist dash layouts with all the controls hidden in electronic touchscreen menus, the two large almost aircraft-like panels of switches seems initially daunting, but understandable – on an off-road ‘black route’ you don’t want to be looking for diff locks and hill-descent controls on a touchscreen…
While this vehicle recalls one of the most robust machines ever built, there’s nothing utilitarian about the interior. Even the base spec models have comfy seats, quality surfacing that lends an upmarket feel to the insides and such essentials as cupholders…
Once out on the road the Grenadier behaves itself well. Despite being very highly sprung, part of that off-road prowess that we will come to shortly, it does not feel too floaty, rolling along in a good degree of comfort.
One of the biggest brickbats thrown at the Grenadier is its recirculating-ball steering – or in English, a steering wheel that does not self-centre. I’d forgotten this until the first hard left-hand turn exiting the launch venue, when frantic arm movements ensued in order to keep the vehicle on the road.
Once I remembered, however, I simply modified my driving style – making a point of steering both in and out of a corner soon became second nature and once I thought about it I wondered what the fuss was about. The steering is not the best and could be improved, but it’s neither the nightmare some reports have suggested.
The steering quirk becomes obvious in the Grenadier’s natural environment. You don’t want to be permanently holding onto the wheel when trying to negotiate an off-road ‘black route’, and if you are trying to replace an icon such as the old Defender, then your vehicle really must be able to go places no sensible person would try to drive.
It’s fair to say that Ineos went all out to prove this on the launch event, with an off-road route that would defeat most so-called ‘off roaders’. This journo, who’s never felt capable or a fan of such mud-plugging, let a pro off-roader show him what was possible, and in the case of the Grenadier it’s a lot.
As mentioned the vehicle has all the specification requirements in this area, both in terms of mechanics – manual differentials instead of electronic traction control systems which in a deep chasm would just spin themselves into deeper trouble – and the basic design.
The Grenadier sits 264mm off the ground, high enough for practical mud-plugging, but with wheels that can travel 585mm to get out of the deepest ruts. Meanwhile all the angles leave many a rival in the shade – 35.5 degrees approach, 36.1 departure, more than 28 breakover are impressive figures.
The launch off-road routes saw the Grenadier sailing through the worst chasms and mud, up and down the steepest gradients with my driver clearly enjoying himself (strange person…) And he should know all about this vehicle’s capabilities – when not putting up with journalists he uses a Grenadier to tow a massive mobile edit suite to very out-of-the-way filming locations for Hollywood director Ridley Scott.
On the drive event the final element in the Ineos efforts to convince us of the widespread capabilities of the Grenadier Commercial consisted of a towing exercise – but no ordinary exercise…
Even motoring journalists very rarely tow anything with a vehicle – last time for me was a caravan event the best part of a decade ago. So it was sobering to see what was hung on the back of the Grenadier I was expected to take the wheel of – a large trailer loaded with a mini-digger, an all-up weight of 2.75 tonnes…
Yet again, however, there was no need for concern. The Grenadier merely took the extra in its stride, so much power available that on the test route along public roads in busy Surrey it was very easy to forget there was anything hung on the back…
I came away from my test drive surprisingly impressed by the Grenadier. Part of its image problem, I think comes from the fact that many of the critics have rated it as a general SUV – like all the other general SUVs that will spend the vast majority or more likely all their lives never leaving the blacktop.
The Grenadier is not a general SUV – it is a vehicle built for a specific clientele, as was its iconic inspiration. On the road it will be beaten hands down by the majority, though it will still turn in an adequate performance. But if your needs are for wheels in places most drivers would never dream of going, then the Grenadier will suit those needs very well.
The drawbacks? The major one is cost. The Grenadier price has gone up a couple of times since its seemingly at times tortuous introduction began, and at prices starting from plus-£50,000 the Commercial is expensive in today’s market, especially among the rural audiences who could be regarded as core buyers. For them it ticks all the usage boxes, being very capable and very practical – just pricey…
Business Motoring First Drives are the initial test of a new vehicle, of usually between 50 and 100 miles. Business Motoring Full Reviews are usually conducted over a full week, completing several hundred miles.