Sir Jim Ratcliff's successful take on modern rugged classic 4x4

THE INEOS Grenadier has been with us for a while now but it still turns heads wherever it goes, especially in the off-road community and more so among those that have a soft spot for the original Land Rover Defender.

- Willem van de Putte

How did it come about?

We know that billionaire and chairperson of multi-national chemical company, Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliff, expressed an interest in buying the tooling for the Defender when JLR stopped production, which they declined in no uncertain terms.

So he and a couple of mates, while sipping on some beers at the Grenadier pub in London, drew a rough design of what he wanted on a napkin and from there the Grenadier was born.

That napkin is now framed and has pride of place in the pub.

He has spent a good few billion dollars in the process but he's built one of the most rugged and capable 4x4s on the market.

We were fortunate enough to be at the launch in Scotland in 2022 and it's taken a while to get behind the wheel on local soil, but when we did, it was the Trailmaster, aimed at the more serious off-roader.

The original brief was to create a vehicle that's durable, reliable and has extremely capable off-road abilities.

The team then set about sourcing components from the world's best including BMW for the engines, ZF for gearboxes, Magna Steyr for design and engineering, Bosch, Tremec for the transfer case and the Carraro Group for the car’s live axles.

Exterior

With a combination of Defender and Mercedes G-Wagon looks, the Grenadier sports no sleek SUV lines or pretty curves, it's a statement rather than a suggestion of adventure.

With mounting attachments fixed to the doors, grab handles in the roof and pre-wired plugs for lights and other outside accessories, the Trailmaster really is trail ready.

That's also underscored by the old-fashioned short stick on the floor to shift between 4h, 4L and central diff-lock and the buttons mounted in the roof to activate the front and rear diff-locks.

Interior

There's also something very satisfying about climbing into the Grenadier.