Ineos Grenadier off to a stalled start in Australia deliveries to ramp up later this year

The Land Rover Defender look-a-like, the Ineos Grenadier four-wheel drive, is off to a stalled start in Australia but the local distributor says more vehicles are on the way later this year.

The Land Rover Defender-inspired Ineos Grenadier – a modern take on the classic heavy-duty four-wheel-drive – is off to a slower than expected start in Australia with only about two-dozen examples making it into customer hands so far, despite the promise of hundreds of orders.

The Ineos Grenadier has joined the growing roster of vehicles caught in shipping bottlenecks, but more vehicles are due by the end of this year, says the local distributor.

The Ineos Grenadier was conspicuously absent from official new-car sales data in May and June 2023 – its first two months of deliveries locally.

The company says it has no plans to provide monthly sales numbers to the official score-keepers, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. This enables the start-up automotive brand to avoid the scrutiny of local sales numbers by industry analysts, rivals – and customers.

Ineos says Australian deliveries were initially made in Perth – the first stop for the ship on the way from Europe – at the end of May, but port congestion along the east coast delayed subsequent arrivals.

To avoid lengthy port delays in Melbourne, the remaining first shipment of Ineos Grenadier four-wheel-drives was diverted to Sydney and Brisbane, from which Victoria-bound vehicles would be sent by road.

Local boss of Ineos, Justin Hocevar, told Drive approximately 25 Grenadiers have been delivered to Australian customers so far, and he expects that number to ramp up “in the hundreds” each month towards the end of this year.

Customers in Australia who placed a $5000 deposit in 2022 will be first to receive the vehicle, with deliveries for deposit holders running from now until the end of the year.

Some early-customer deliveries may spill into 2024, the company says.

When asked how long waiting times would be for a new order, Mr Hocevar said wait times vary depending on the number of cancelled orders.

However, the executive said the approximate waiting time would be around nine months for new orders – unless a customer who ordered the same car dropped out of the queue.

“We’re constantly campaigning for more production (for Australia),” said Mr Hocevar. “And each time you get another tranche of production come your way, that just helps to bring everybody forward a little bit.”

The 2023 Ineos Grenaider is priced from $97,000 before on-road costs in it’s most basic two-seat form, with the most expensive Trialmaster Edition (which comes with a Bellstaff jacket) costing $109,525 before on-road costs.

The vehicles are sold at non-negotiable fixed prices only in Australia via an online portal or a limited showroom network.

Buyers can choose between two BMW-sourced turbocharged six-cylinder engines (petrol or diesel), paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a permanent four-wheel drive system.

The 3.0-litre petrol engine has an output of 210kW/450Nm for claimed fuel consumption of 12.6L/100km, while the 3.0-litre diesel engine has an output of 183kW/550Nm, while using a claimed 10.5L/100km.

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