Ineos, the maker of the famous Grenadier model replicating the discontinued Land Rover Defender classic, is working on two new vehicles. Company CEO Jim Ratcliffe told Automotive News that the company was working on turning the original Grenadier into a pickup truck and following up with a compact electric SUV.
Structural limitations prevent the engineers from simply shortening the Grenadier platform, so the battery crossover will have to wait for a brand new, optimized platform of its own. This new car is touted as having the same ‘Defender spirit’ as the original and retaining its off-road qualities. Like the Grenadier, it will likely be a body-on-frame SUV with Defender-inspired styling cues.
Names and availability dates remain to be announced. When the car does come out, it is primarily expected to compete with the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and the vehicles wearing the Scout badge, which Volkswagen Group plans to revive soon.
Based on the images posted thus far, Ineos must have been developing the truck-bodied Grenadier from the start, along with the SUV. The reason it had never even mentioned it until now was probably that it needed to prioritize launching the five-seat SUV everyone wanted, and only then proceed with its more niche projects.
The new truck is shaping up to be a successor of sorts to the classic Defender 130, which was also obtainable with a truck bed back in its era. The Grenadier version is going to offer two seat rows, too, but it will feature a longer wheelbase than the original Defender did in order to offer a good wheelbase. The Grenadier has around 2,922 mm (114 inches) between the axles, and the truck version of it is going to have around 300 mm (12 inches) of extra wheelbase.