Fusilier was delayed and will be launched “probably by 2028”
Ineos avoids more “ground-up” cars like the Grenadier in bid to cut costs and accelerate expansion
Ineos Automotive has ruled out building another vehicle “from the ground up” after the Grenadier and instead will lean on technology partners to expand its model range with smaller 4x4s, CEO Lynn Calder has said.
The British company will launch the delayed Fusilier range-extender “probably by 2028”, Calder told Autocar at a Siemens event looking at the future of the car industry. Two other models are planned after the Fusilier, she added.
The new models won’t be based on the Grenadier, which launched the Ineos brand in 2022 and plugged a gap in the market for rugged 4x4s left by the demise of the original Land Rover Defender.
“We’re not building any other cars from the ground up, like we have with the Grenadier,” said Calder.
“Now for us, it is about technology sharing, and once we have got that set, we will be able to bring more models to market in shorter order.”
She added: “We don’t plan to change the wheelbase of the Grenadier or do a huge amount more work on the Grenadier platform. So you won’t see a short-wheelbase Grenadier, but you will see a smaller 4×4.”
Calder didn’t expand on which partners Ineos would collaborate with, but the brand held talks with China’s Chery to use a range-extender platform from its electrified off-road brand iCar (known as iCaur internationally) for the Fusilier, Autocar reported last year. Ineos didn’t comment on the report.
Chinese brands are leading the development of REx technology while also expanding the market for chunky off-roaders inspired by the modern Defender and Mercedes G-Class.
The new iCar V27, for example, packages a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine with a 33kWh battery for a claimed electric range of 124 miles and an overall range of over 600 miles.
Compared with plug-in hybrids, REx platforms shift the bias towards the car’s electric capabilities while also giving buyers the certainty of range offered by pure-ICE models. “It’s technology that will get us the regulatory benefit but without the inconvenience to our customers, so we can still sell the cars that they actually want to buy,” said Calder.
Electrification is one of multiple headwinds against which Ineos has struggled since chemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe announced the brand in 2017.
After initially targeting production in Wales, Ineos pivoted to France, buying the former Smart factory in Hambach, on the German border, from Mercedes.
Hambach has an annual production capacity of 30,000 vehicles, but Ineos has yet to come close to that amid issues including pandemic-related disruption, the temporary loss of its seat supplier Recaro Automotive and increased tariffs on exports to the US imposed last year.
“During our short life, it’s more about what hasn’t happened,” Calder told the audience at the event. “It’s been a million times harder than I expected. But what I’ve learned is that you can’t plan for anything; you just have to be extremely agile.”
Calder said the company was on a better path after increasing orders by 20% in the first quarter.
“That feels pretty good against the backdrop of a pretty challenging market,” she said. “It feels like we are on the road now in the right way with the right car in the right markets.”
Ineos doesn’t release sales figures but said it has delivered 35,000 vehicles globally since production started in 2022.
Ineos’s biggest market for the Grenadier and related products (primarily the Quartermaster double-cab pick-up truck) is the US, with the country now accounting for 65% of sales, despite the hike in import tax from 2.5% to 15% last year.
It aims to avoid that additional tax by producing some models in the US, with a goal to start production there before the end of 2030, said Calder.
