Ineos went crazy at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, bridging a lineup of heavily modified Grenadiers. The collection includes a Quartermaster pickup with portal axles, another pickup with a short-bed configuration, a V8-powered Station Wagon, an eight-seater Safari conversion, and an FIA-approved rally-spec build. Ineos wanted to showcase the versatility of the Ineos Grenadier platform with its prototypes and spark customer interest for future bespoke builds by the company’s Arcane Works personalization division. The company has just revealed the first limited-production series of the Grenadier, in the form of the luxurious Detour.
The most impressive builds are probably
the Grenadier Quartermaster and Station Wagon with portal axles and larger
off-road tires, created by German company LeTech. These come with a massive
ground clearance of 514 mm, a 250 mm increase
compared to the standard Grenadier, and remind us of the Mercedes-AMG G63 4×4².
The wading depth has been increased to an impressive 1,050 mm,
making the portal-axled Grenadiers perfect for river crossings. Ineos has
already supplied similarly-modified Grenadiers to the fire brigade in Muhlheim
and de Ruhr in Germany. Another highlight is the first V8-powered Grenadier,
created by apprentices of the engineering firm Magna. Under the hood lies a
GM-sourced 6.2-liter V8 with 425 hp and 625 Nm of
torque. This represents a healthy boost over the 282 hp and
450 Nm of the stock BMW-sourced 3.0-liter six-cylinder powertrain.
According to the company, the engine swap
required “a complete re-engineering of the engine mounts, engine electrics and
electronics, water and oil cooling, exhaust manifold and rear silencer,
transmission bearings and heat shields”. Furthermore, the center console had to
be revised, in order to allow room for the significantly larger V8. Moving on,
the Shortermaster is a short-bed version of the Quartermaster pickup, built by
Ineos engineers at the Hambach factory in France. The truck is based on a
Grenadier Station Wagon, with the rear seats being pushed forward to create
more space for the exposed loading compartment, and a custom tailgate for easy
access. The one-off retains the 2,922 mm wheelbase of the SUV,
which is 305 mm shorter than the Quartermaster.
The longest version of the Grenadier
served as the base for the Safari build by Botswana-based firm Ineos Kavango.
The cabin has been converted to a four-row, eight-seater layout, offering
excellent visibility to all passengers thanks to the lack of windows and
pillars. The canvas roof sits much higher courtesy of a custom frame. The model
also features tubular protection bars around the bodywork, bespoke wheels with
off-road tires, and a snorkel.
Last but not least, Ineos showed the first
FIA-compliant Grenadier rally car, by Buzz Special Vehicles. This is
distinguished by the black and orange livery, the extra lights on the grille,
the roof-mounted vents, and the white alloy wheels. The interior is stripped
out for weight saving and features a roll cage, bucket seats, and carbon door
panels. More importantly, the 3.0-liter six-cylinder gasoline powertrain has
been boosted to 349 hp and 550 Nm of torque,
combined with a new suspension from Warwick-based R53 and uprated brakes. The
rally-spec Grenadier was not created for show purposes, as it will compete at
the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship.
