2023 INEOS Grenadier

“… a special event hosted by INEOS to be among the first to see the Grenadier IN PERSON” … read the invite.. It was a very clean concept affair staged in a converted warehouse in what is now called the “Arts District” of just south of downtown L.A.. Just gritty enough to evoke an image of ruggedness, with a hint of the avant garde, the industrial/cool setting set the mood and we saw the newest entry into the ever-popular HNWI’s Gotta Have One automobile market.

This, friends and neighbors, is the upright, heavy-duty, go-anywhere (from the Malibu shore to Rodeo Drive and beyond), ultra-tough-tech, mega all-terrain, snazzy/snooty Grenadier. Said to have sprung from a drawing on a cocktail napkin from a pub of the same name, and backed by the chairman of British mega-company INEOS Petroleum, the Grenadier is the touted as the successor to the recently discontinued Land Rover Defender which has reigned as something of the standard in the rugged-chic SUV world since way back when.

The specs that we got were pretty general. Standing out, a little, is the zinc-coated “boxed ladder” chassis - which is really good if you plan to drive this one along the beach at sunset a lot. The chassis is “super rigid”, noted INEOS Automotive Executive Vice President of Americas, Greg Clark, adding that they want this machine to last: “… 30, 40, 50 years”. Planned non-obsolescence aside, what we saw of the one car on display looked pretty damn hardy - and hip as well.

The one (and only one in town right now) we toured was hooked up with a turbo-charged BMW straight-6 engine rated at just under 300 horsepower, has solid beam axles on both ends, and features an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission powering it one through three differentials, with the attendant fun and games that all that sort of burly “gear” implies. Oh yeah, there’s a oversized/overhead driver’s control panel of cool switches that are guaranteed to set any tech tool type aficionado in the county’s hair alight. It looks for all the world like it came out of the cockpit of a Convair 340.

The interior is plush, almost resplendent - Recaro seats for example, pile carpets, with what I’d call “tasteful tones and surfaces” throughout - making picking up the kids at school a much more pleasant chore as well as being damn sure to render just about any too-cool, gum-chewing parking attendant working west of La Brea Boulevard flat speechless.

That’s our working, a one hour and forty-five minute impression of this latest tough/chic/tall new reality town and down car. From here, we’ll kindly direct you to connect the Grenadier website for more information (as if the foregoing was not enough). Once connected, there are a few fun options to play with.

You may well even want to opt to throw in with (what they tell us is about) the 3,000 eager early-adapters who have already plunked down $450 US deposit on one of these. The fine print mentions that your earnest money is refundable, so why not?

As far as when these Brit bolides will be at purveyor near you … Mister Clark had mentioned that he thought next summer might well be a good time to see one in person and make a positive purchasing decision.