When the original Land Rover Defender went out of production at Solihull in January 2016 after 67 years, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of the chemicals group Ineos, tried to buy the tooling to keep it going. Jaguar Land Rover declined, so he set up Ineos Automotive to design and build a similar vehicle of its own, under the codename Projekt Grenadier, named after his favourite pub, The Grenadier in Belgravia, where the idea was first discussed.
The Grenadier was revealed in July 2020, developed with Magna Steyr and using BMW engines. It was originally to be built at a new plant in Bridgend in Wales, but Ineos instead bought the former Smart factory at Hambach in France from Daimler, and production began there in October 2022. A pick-up version, the Grenadier Quartermaster, followed.
Ineos has worked with Hyundai on a hydrogen fuel-cell Grenadier and in 2024 showed the Fusilier, a smaller electric or hybrid model, although its production plans were cancelled that July. The company is based in London.
