The Ineos Grenadier, Which Is Technically Not a Land Rover Defender, Starts Production

It’s been about five years since B-Tier Brosnan-Era Bond Villain Jim Ratcliffe announced plans to build his own version of the ancient Land Rover Defender. It sounded like a crazy plan at the time, but apparently, if you’re a billionaire you can just throw money at anything you want and make it happen. And eventually, it did happen. The Ineos Grenadier is now officially in production, according to Motor1.

Built at a former Mercedes-Benz factory in Hambach, France, the Grenadier really does appear to be an off-road enthusiast’s dream. It’s a true body-on-frame SUV with the U.S. version getting full-time four-wheel drive, live front and rear axles, a locking center-differential, different modes for off-roading and wading through water, front and rear skid plates, steel wheels, and several other adventure-friendly features.

Customers who want something even more rugged can upgrade to the Trialmaster Edition, which adds, among other things, a snorkel, a ladder, an auxiliary battery, and an oh-so-important branded jacket. The optional Rough Pack adds locking front and rear differentials and all-terrain KO2 tires, while the luxury-oriented Smooth Pack throws in stuff like a backup camera, puddle lights, ambient interior lighting, heated mirrors, and heated windshield washer fluid nozzles.

Finally, the Fieldmaster Edition upgrades your Grenadier to include alloy wheels, locking lug nuts, safari windows, leather trim, heated front seats, carpet floor mats, and, of course, the branded jacket. But while you can add the Smooth Pack to the Fieldmaster Edition, the Rough Pack is reserved for the Trialmaster.

Ineos plans to eventually offer a version with a truck bed, but it has yet to announce when that will be.

Power comes from a BMW-sourced 3.0-liter inline-six engine that makes 282 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. Sadly, though, there’s no manual transmission option. The Grenadier only gets an eight-speed ZF automatic.

U.S. pricing has yet to be announced, but expect it to be surprisingly reasonable. In the UK, the most basic Grenadier starts at £49,000. But the cheapest version that will be coming to the U.S. starts at £52,000. That’s about in line with the base price of a new Land Rover Defender 90 in the UK, so doing some rough back-of-the-napkin math, expect the base version to start around $55,000.

Unfortunately for U.S. customers, Ineos is still in the process of building out its dealer network here, so there’s no telling when you’ll actually be able to order one, much less when you’ll be able to take delivery. In the UK, though, Ineos estimates it will begin delivering Grenadiers to customers in December.

Until then, you can at least have fun playing around with the configurator.