FOLLOWING months of looking out, Ineos Automotive has confirmed it has discovered a house for the manufacturing of its upcoming Grenadier 4×4, with the model to accumulate the manufacturing facility in Hambach, France presently utilized by Mercedes-Benz.
For months, Ineos has been in search of a manufacturing facility to construct the Grenadier, after its authentic plan to construct the Grenadier chassis in Portugal adopted by meeting in Wales fell by way of.
The Hambach facility, situated close to the German border, is presently utilized by Mercedes to construct Good automobiles, and underneath the phrases of the acquisition, Ineos will proceed to supply the Good EQ ForTwo and sure parts for Mercedes.
Ineos is touting Hambach as an ‘supreme’ manufacturing facility for Grenadier manufacturing, attributable to its modernity, high quality management and a latest funding enabling the plant to supply bigger automobiles.
Its location additionally makes it well-placed for provide chains and the procurement of automotive expertise.
Ineos Group chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe mentioned the Hambach plant offered the right alternative for the model.
“Hambach offered us with a singular alternative that we merely couldn’t ignore: to purchase a contemporary automotive manufacturing facility with a world-class workforce,” he mentioned.
“Ineos Automotive set out a imaginative and prescient to construct the world’s greatest utilitarian 4×4, and at our new dwelling in Hambach, we’ll do exactly that.”
Ineos Automotive chairman Dirk Heilmann mentioned the acquisition of the brand new manufacturing facility would maintain the brand new model on observe for its first deliveries of the Grenadier in round 12 months’ time.
“This acquisition marks our greatest milestone but within the improvement of the Grenadier,” he mentioned.
“Alongside the exhaustive testing programme that our prototype automobiles are actually present process, we are able to now start preparations at Hambach to construct our 4×4 from late subsequent 12 months for supply to our prospects across the globe.”
Round 1300 jobs will likely be accessible on the Hambach manufacturing facility, when combining the Ineos and Mercedes operations.
The Grenadier is a nod to old-school off-road 4x4s such because the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Sequence and previous-generation Land Rover Defender, the latter of which has served because the Grenadier’s major inspiration.
Slated for a launch in Australia, will probably be supplied with the selection of BMW-sourced turbocharged petrol and diesel six-cylinder powertrains, and underpinned by a ladder-frame chassis and strong axles entrance and rear.
A latest partnership was additionally introduced with Hyundai to discover the opportunity of a fuel-cell electrical powertrain, to assist future-proof the Grenadier towards the UK authorities’s just lately introduced plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel-powered new automobiles by 2030.
