More than 50 accessories coming for INEOS Grenadier

The new 2023 INEOS Grenadier is a ‘blank canvas’ that’s been handed over to the aftermarket as an ‘open-source’ platform for the development of a wide range of off-road accessories, but there’s a significant catch.

The hybrid British-German-French brand has treated the Grenadier like an app store on wheels, giving CAD engineering data to approved aftermarket companies so they can develop their own accessories.

Companies like ARB and Rhino have had INEOS CAD data for at least a year, and selected body makers also have access to it, especially for the upcoming dual-cab pick-up version.

However, INEOS has insisted the bodywork companies match its own five-year/unlimited-km vehicle and paint warranty for the Grenadier, which also comes with a 12-year anti-perforation warranty.

“We have spoken to ARB already, and Rhino roof racks and others,” said INEOS Automotive commercial director Mark Tennant at the global media launch of the Grenadier in Scotland last month.

“For body builders, a commission to be involved and approved from INEOS means signing on with us on warranties,” he confirmed.

While INEOS offers the factory option (standard on upper-spec models) of locking front and rear differentials, to go with the standard centre diff lock, it has turned to companies like ARB for components including bullbars.

“What we would like to do, in the middle term, is to appoint a number of body makers and approved modifiers on the basis that we have an unusual donor of body-on-frame. That architecture supports a wider-than-normal range of applications,” Tennant said.

“We are working on them to give customers the confidence in the product as delivered.

“They have access to our CAD data. We maintain the five-year warranty on the bits they don’t touch with the expectation that they match the warranty on the bits they do touch,” he said.

“It’s fair to say there has been a varied reaction to it from the aftermarket. Some are fine and some less fine, but we are trying to make it easier for the customers.”

ARB will offer aftermarket equipment for the Grenadier from the moment they arrive, and the first French-built off-roaders are already on ships to Australia.

INEOS even had Rhino roof racks on Grenadiers on the launch, along with extending awnings on some vehicles and others with roof-top tents and winches, all of which have been through the INEOS warranty-approval process.

The Grenadier is available with eight pre-engineered switches, ranging from 10 to 500 amps, built in to the roof lining on the expectation that customers will turn to the aftermarket for everything from light bars to fridges, to make accessorising the big six-cylinder off-roaders plug-and-play.

“We are filling more than 50 accessories so far, like the roof rack and bars from Rhino Rack, and we have a bullbar and a wrap-around bullbar and a 40-inch light bar, too,” Tennant said.

INEOS has taken advice from its Australian managers, too, and acknowledges that hard-core off-road fans retain a lot of brand loyalty to their aftermarket suppliers.

“We don’t think [aftermarket] diff locks are necessary, but people are going to do stuff,” Tennant said.

“We expect that people will be doing portal axles and things like that.

“People have their preferred tribal aftermarket providers, like going to Pedders for shocks and ARB for bullbars, so we would rather work with them than do it ourselves,” he acknowledged.

The Grenadier is engineered to have exterior mounting brackets around its body, to allow buyers to easily transfer equipment over from other 4x4s, and mount it to the INEOS at campsites.

While there was a temptation for INEOS to set up its own aftermarket division, and even a high-performance division like Land Rover’s SVO operation, Tennant insists the company needs to walk before it can run.

He likened the Grenadier’s aftermarket program as an automotive app store, with companies welcome to use the Grenadier as a platform, if they can prove to INEOS that their equipment meets its engineering and warranty criteria.

“There are potential profits we could be making by pursuing every possible revenue stream, but we have a bigger concern about overreach and complication and poor allocation of our engineering resources,” said Tennant.

“And with the utility roles the Grenadier 4x4 markets like to have, there is so much potential for customers to modify it to suit their needs that it would broaden the company too much. Instead, this way, the company broadens anyway and everybody wins.”

2023 INEOS Grenadier options and accessories:

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