INEOS is the firm owner of the Hambach factory, the French headquarters of the smart. The British firm has already started pilot production of the new Grenadier, a classic but state-of-the-art off-roader. A previous step to the serial production that starts this summer.
The INEOS Grenadier It is one of the great novelties of this year 2022, not only because it is presented, which it has already done and we have been able to put ourselves at its controls, but also because it is about to start its serial production of a model that Land Rover tried to stop by considering it plagiarism of its true star, the Defender.
Those responsible for the brand of British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe already have no less than 15,000 reservations, despite the fact that the final specifications and prices have not been officially communicated, which are scheduled for April. While a pilot production of units of the new model is being undertaken, it is already they have manufactured 130 pre-series prototypes to adjust the latest configurations and undergo quality tests, a process that has been launched in the Hambach factory, the former smart.
The INEOS Grenadier, a classic off-roader that will arrive in 2023
The first phase of the production tests has already been completed with the manufacture of the aforementioned 130 Grenadier units, which will be used to determine possible failures in the assembly process and thus adapt the new production line. In March, the second phase will begin, refining all the assembly processes and specifying the quality phase with great precision, a period that will almost extend until the end of May, since the operation of the supply chains, logistics and the daily production rate.
Because, in July, the first units will begin to be manufactured, targeting customers from all over the world. The total amount of the transaction for the Hambach factory is unknown, but it is known that they have not needed to make major changes. A completely new production line, an automated workshop for the production of the bodies, a new paint shop and a modernization of the assembly lines that were already in the plant, as well as a more modern final quality section. That has cost them 50 million Euros, taking advantage of the improvements that Daimler made in 2019 and whose cost amounted to 470 million Euros.
Unlike 99% of manufacturers, INEOS has been on the upside from day one. Its prototypes have not been camouflaged, which led to Land Rover’s lawsuit for plagiarism in the design of the classic Defender and which was dismissed. Some off-road vehicles that have been tested in different regions of the world, and that promise practically insurmountable off-road skills, only with a model capable of coping with it, the Mercedes G-Class.