Ineos Heads to Cumbria for a Grenadier Driving Day
One of the newest brands in the automotive world, Ineos, has held a media driving day in our region, allowing many Northern Group members to get a first drive of its offerings.
Ineos is probably much more well-known for being a multinational petrochemical concern, but the company’s founder Sir James Ratcliffe — Manchester-born, no less — set up Ineos Automotive to fulfil a personal ambition. He’d sought to buy the Land Rover Defender’s tooling after Land Rover brought almost 70 years of production to an end, but after being unable to secure an agreement to do so simply set about building his own.
Comparisons to the Defender are inevitable, not least because of the looks, but the Grenadier is an all-new vehicle. It’s based on its own box-section ladder chassis, and sports a range of BMW engines including a diesel unit.
While we’ve had a chance to take a close look at the Grenadier before in Yorkshire — in pre-production form — opportunities to get behind the wheel have been few and far between.
The event in Cumbria, at the Silverholme Manor on the Graythwaite Estate, was a first chance for many NGMW members then, and the throwback vehicle was available in both petrol and diesel forms for the attendees.
In fact as well as accompanied drives on a short road route, the Grenadier was also available for a tricky off-road course that allowed its Defender-inspired driving talents to shine through.
Along with the spectacular scenery overlooking Windermere, the attendees were also entertained when not driving by archery, axe-throwing, embossing, and a jerky-making workshop to really sell the outdoorsman image of the Grenadier.
A static example of the recently revealed pickup-bodied Grenadier Quartermaster was also available, along with a regular Grenadier sporting a roof-tent accessory — which we can well imagine our Mr. Mud Life, Damian Turner, testing soon!
