INEOS Grenadier: No dumbing down of off-road DNA

INEOS Automotive is not going to let urban cowboys dumb down the capability or heavy-duty off-road development focus of its vehicles, says the car-maker’s global boss Lynn Calder.

And although Australia vies with Germany as the world’s second biggest market for the INEOS Grenadier behind North America, she says our harsh and unique conditions will be the toughest providing ground for the French-built, UK-born off-road 4x4 wagon.

In Australia last week for the much-delayed official local launch of the INEOS Grenadier, Calder reiterated the brand’s commitment to its extreme off-road mission – despite the fact its debut model is attracting plenty of inner-city buyers Down Under.

“I spent the morning with a whole bunch of Grenadier owners in Melbourne and I think that they are [at] the extreme passionate end of the 4x4 off-road community. Most of them just haven’t had their cars long enough to get them dirty, to be honest. So, I think you might start to see some dirtier Grenadiers around,” Calder joked with carsales.

“Over time though, we will see a mix. People that maybe won’t put so much mud on it, maybe won’t put so many accessories on it, will maybe use it for more day-to-day stuff or maybe day-to-day stuff and adventurous weekends rather than being out there using it as a utility vehicle every day. My view is we’ve got a broad enough church for both,” she commented.

So, does that mean INEOS will inevitably go ‘soft’?

“Oh my goodness. No, no, no, never. That’s not in our DNA at all,” said Calder.

“I’ve heard the words over-engineered [from Australian owners] a couple of times and to hear people who are extreme enthusiasts say that tells you everything about our vehicle and where we want to go.

“There’s no fakery around the vehicle… Everything feels really manual and mechanical and, given some of the other 4x4 SUV types on the market today, that will be quite different for some users…

“[But] my message to that is there’s nothing intimidating about the car. It’s really extremely easy to use and it will be a really fabulous drive on the road, but we will never dumb down any of the capability of the vehicle. That’s the core [purpose] and we’ve engineered it for that.”

Calder says that although the USA is now building the lion’s share of the INEOS Grenadier’s order bank, Australia has a “huge” role in proving the bona-fides of Grenadier and INEOS for the global marketplace.

“It [Australia] kind of feels like the frontier for 4x4 vehicles. You can’t make it here if people don’t buy into the capability of the vehicle and the reliability of the vehicle. I think it’s hugely damaging for the brand [to not succeed here] and it’s why we’re putting and will continue to put a lot of effort into Australia.

“If you take the US out of the equation… for the whole of last year the UK has been our biggest market and then, really closely behind that, Germany and Australia are constantly battling it out for the next biggest.

“So I think [for] volume, sure [Australia is important]. But I think that the credibility of people being able to take it into whatever their daily requirement for a utility vehicle is and for it to do everything we’ve said that it’ll do – and for them to be really convinced of that – will give us all the credibility that we need,” she stated.

Calder concedes that being able to take on the off-road ‘Goliath’ that is Toyota in Australia is also a key to INEOS’ global acceptance, but she says she “doesn't spend too much time” thinking about it.

“[That] might sound a bit strange because if we don’t break into the [Toyota] market, we’re not going to have longevity. But I think I spend a lot more time thinking about our vehicle and what we need to do and how we need to sell the vehicle,” Calder commented.

“It’s going to take time for people to recognize the same reliability. [But] I don’t worry about it because I know how far we’ve tested this vehicle. It’s almost two million kilometres now… Our engineers have gone to the extreme end of making sure that the durability and reliability of this car is everything we said it will be.

“For a lot of the competitor brands, there are a huge amount of modifications that are done after a base vehicle is bought, to the chassis, to the suspension… better ground clearance, better springs coils, better shocks, better dampers, bigger wheels, bumpers.

“These are all things that we are offering pretty much the standard. So, we’ve got a really strong story to tell about a car that runs out the back end of our factory and straight into the bush here and can do everything that you need it to do,” the INEOS boss enthused.

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