After years of discussion and a few delays, the Ineos Grenadier is finally hitting American roads, with sightings racking up more and more in the past few weeks.
After years of discussion and a few delays, the Ineos Grenadier is finally hitting American roads, with sightings racking up more and more in the past few weeks.
The first European Grenadier deliveries were in April 2023, with an extreme vehicle handover event in Morocco's Atlas Mountains. In October, the American dealer network was formally announced, and the early deliveries came towards the very end of 2023. Now, a month into 2024, they're starting to pop up more and more on the road, and early American reviews are also coming in.
There are nineteen Ineos dealers right now; a far cry from Land Rover's 395 retailers (or the thousands of Jeep dealers across America), but not a bad showing for an all-new brand. They're focused on high-revenue metropolitan areas, and there are a few eccentricities in the early dealer group, such as a lack of dealer options close to New York City, and the same thin Mountain West network that also reflects in Land Rover's dealer list. Canadians only have two dealers to pick from, one in Vancouver and one in Toronto. On the global scale, dealers are concentrated in Western Europe, the Persian Gulf, Southern Africa, and Australia. There's currently no way to buy a Grenadier in South America.
As far as reviews, they've been generally positive, though the vehicle's on-road handling has been panned, even in comparison to other body-on-frame off-road SUVs like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco. It's also a bit taller than some buyers expected, and the comments on an auction on auto personality Doug DeMuro's website Cars and Bids reflected a few owners who had to give up on their Ineos dreams because the vehicle wouldn't fit in their garage. There's also been criticism of the steering, which doesn't re-center itself like most vehicles do, and the large turning radius, something important in an off-road vehicle that needs to maneuver tight spaces.
On the other hand, build quality has been very well regarded, with the Grenadier compared by some more to a Mercedes G-Wagen than an old Defender. Indeed, it's built by the same people (Austrian contract automaker Steyr) that build the G-Wagen, so that might make sense. For those who have off-roaded it, it also hits all the marks -- and since that was what it was built to do, that's good to hear.
For Land Rover brand die-hards, the Grenadier is now here, and it will start making its mark on our community off-road scene, as something that was explicitly designed to be Land Rover-adjacent. For those who always felt that the New Defender didn't do it for them, the vehicle that answers their prayers is now available to buy. Others may find that the New Defender serves their needs. Most interesting is that the original Defender has now sprung forth two vehicles that will both be on the market at the same time, at about the same price point, an interesting experiment in what the market was truly looking for in the wake of the classic Defender.
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