One of Mount Buller’s INEOS Grenadier Quartermasters spitting snow. Photo: INEOS.
You’ve probably heard the story of how Land Rover and then the Land Cruiser forged their places as off-roading legends in Australia when they were pitted against our untamed high country during construction of the original Snowy Hydro Scheme.
Now it seems it’s the turn of a new challenger – the INEOS Grenadier – to prove its mettle in Australia and take on another of our alpine environments.
With high country resorts gearing up for the snow season, motoring journalists from around Australia were invited to Mount Buller in Victoria to check out the resort’s fleet of four INEOS Grenadiers – and, of course, test drive one for themselves.
The staff certainly swear by the vehicles.
“We need heavy-duty cars up here,” lifts manager Nick Reeves said.
“We carry a lot of equipment, components, rigging gear, bull wheel bearings, you name it, I’ve towed it with the INEOS. Trailers full of three tonnes of rock up a hill, and it does it with ease.
“One of the core uses is putting a 1000-litre tank on the back of mine and using it as first response for lightning strikes – going up the slopes and putting the fire out.”
The cars arranged at Mount Buller’s village square. Photo: INEOS.
In case you hadn’t heard of INEOS Automotive, it’s technically an offshoot of a chemical company founded by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe (who also has stakes in the Grenadier cycling team, Britannia rowing team, and Belstaff fashion brand and, during COVID, also swivelled to make hand sanitiser).
The story goes that Sir Jim asked Land Rover very nicely if he could remake the original Defender, only to be told in the most polite British way possible to make like a tree.
“Blow this,” he thought, while having a pint with friends in the Grenadier pub in London. “I’ll make my own.”
The Grenadier “station wagon” was INEOS Automotive’s first product, put together in a former Mercedes factory in Hambach, France. It arrived in Australia in June 2023.
This year, it’s been joined by its dual-cab ute sibling, called the Quartermaster. Few names roll off the tongue with quite the same level of coolness as “Grenadier Quartermaster”.
It certainly has the looks to back it up. And overhead switchgear like you’re in a jet fighter. And the inside can literally be hosed out, thanks to drainplugs built into the floor.
Yes INEOS is new and unfamiliar and, according to its Australian marketing manager, they hear the usual complaints about how you wouldn’t find parts for a Grenadier in the outback the way you might with a LandCruiser (overlooking the irony in such a statement).
Climbing to the summit. Photo: INEOS.
But to give it the heart of an old friend, INEOS sought out the “tier-one” brands everyone respects. The six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines are made by BMW, the automatic gearbox by ZF, the seats by Recaro, brakes by Brembo, springs by Eibach, electronics by Bosch, and axles by Italian tractor manufacturer Carraro.
So far, the Grenadier is averaging sales of 100 units a month in Australia. INEOS Automotive’s regional director for Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia-Pacific Justin Hocevar admits the dual-cab market has been a much tougher nut to crack.
“I’ll be very frank and open, breaking into this really tough dual-cab market is no easy task,” he said.
“Of course, it’s very well populated with what we call the medium-duty pick-ups – Rangers and HiLuxes and Navaras and D-Maxes and BT-50s. But when it gets into the heavy end of the market – the arduous-use vehicles – the choice starts to get a lot slimmer, and that’s the space we want to operate in.
“Hopefully, through the operations with Mount Buller … it shows why we think we’ve got a right to play in that space … It’s real proof the vehicle was built for this kind of purpose.”
A couple of days before we arrived, Buller was hit with 120 km/h winds and a dump of snow. On our test drive, however, it was hard to tell.
We tackled rutted tracks signposted with clear instructions about how they’re “4WD only”, waded through rocky creeks and clambered up slippery embankments on the other side. The side slope-meter on the central touchscreen read over 20 degrees at one point, which was enough to uncage a couple of butterflies in the stomach.
We employed the low-range gearbox and the central diff lock, coupled with the rear diff lock and ‘wade mode’ once (if only to have an excuse to use the overhead switchgear), but the Grenadier Quartermaster didn’t so much as flinch. Or slip. Or even scramble.
Baptism of fire passed, I’d say.
Thanks to INEOS Automotive for providing this opportunity for testing. Region has no commercial relationship with INEOS Automotive.
Original Article published by James Coleman on Region Canberra.
