Car Fule

We do not improvise a car manufacturer. This is what Ineos, a chemical giant, who has decided to launch into the production ofan old-fashioned 4 × 4, the Grenadier. This adventurer, who is strongly inspired by the old Land Rover Defender, is to be built in Hambach, Moselle, in the east of France, after the takeover by Ineos of the Smart factory from Daimler.

But there, production is late. Initially announced for 2020, the Ineos Grenadier will finally not be ready before July … 2022, the company citing “inevitable delays in 2020”, without elaborating. But we can obviously guess that the Covid-19 crisis, coupled with the shortage of semiconductors, did not allow Ineos to meet the set schedule.

1.8 million kilometers of testing

In the meantime, theIneos Grenadier continues his trials, and has just completed a first phase of tests in the Austrian mountains. An area which is also closer to the headquarters of Ineos’ technical partner for this project, Magna Steyr, responsible in particular for the production of the Mercedes G Class. The rest of the program provides for the use of 130 prototypes, responsible for traveling 1.8 million kilometers pretty much everywhere in the world.

Above all, Ineos plans to produce a hydrogen version of its Grenadier, in addition to the classic models powered by BMW. What to combine a retro look with new technologies, and especially to facilitate the homologation to European standards.

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