Grenadier a blank canvas: INEOS
Brand-new INEOS Grenadier off-roader is a blank canvas and "open-sourced"The team behind the all-new INEOS Grenadier off-roader says the British-built modern-day Defender is a blank canvas that will be easy for both private and commercial owners to customise.
Key executives of the off-road start-up, INEOS Automotive, told carsales in an Australian-exclusive interview in the lead-up to today’s unveiling of the Grenadier that the company was committed to retaining an “open-source” approach to the development of the vehicle.
“It’s a really important aspect to the Grenadier,” INEOS Automotive’s Commercial Director, Mark Tennant explained.
“It’s also this idea of it being a blank canvas and being personalised. We do see [Grenadier] being a vehicle that appeals to a certain breadth of community and we will therefore be offering quite a range of accessories from launch,” he continued.
“But we’ll also be taking quite an open-source approach in recognition of the fact that people have got other vehicles… They’ve got bits of kit in the garage that they don’t really want to junk because they’ve upgraded to a Grenadier. They want to be able to adapt and fit. So in terms of the roof guttering [it allows] fairly standard roof rack fixings.
“Toby [Ecuyer, Grenadier design chief] talked about the utility belt that runs through the vehicle, which is a kind of a universal fixing system. If you’re going out overlanding or whatever and you want to attach kit to the outside of the vehicle off-road, you can do that. And we really want to encourage that,” Tennant explained.
The Grenadier will have wiring pre-placed front, rear and at the windscreen header for auxiliary lighting and heavy-duty connections for winches and the like, the company says.
“There’s some great kit out there. I went with a colleague to the [Las Vegas] SEMA show last year for the first time and that’s a complete eye-opener. And you’ve got your ARBs and others too who do great stuff down in Australia as well. We don’t want to be so protective. We want some revenue from accessories but we don’t want to shut everybody out,” Tennant stated.
“This is something that we’re very keen on to make work because this vehicle is something that people will make their own,” INEOS Automotive’s CEO Dirk Heilmann explained.
“They’re going to want to travel with it… It’s like a blank canvas that you build on – it almost becomes part of the family. I would not be surprised if people start naming the things,” the off-roading boss stated.
No five-star safety rating for INEOS Grenadier
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