2023 Ineos Grenadier: Here's how long you'll need to wait for one of Australia's most hotly anticipated off-road vehicles

Ineos has today announced that global build slots for customer-delivered Grenadier 4x4s have been locked in for December of 2022. But what does this mean for Australian buyers, and how long is the current wait time for one?

Since the announcement in 2019 that London-based multinational chemical company, Ineos, was set to launch an automotive division, the hype has been huge.

Building what many consider to be closer to a spiritual continuation of the original Land Rover than the current-generation Defender, anticipation surrounding the brand’s entry to Australia has also been massive.

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The order books opened in May, 2022, and the brand has confirmed first deliveries will be made in December this year.

Australian customers will be waiting slightly longer, with Ineos's local representatives explaining the initial batch of demonstrator production vehicles would arrive in December, with customer deliveries currently expected “closer to January with the majority of customer deliveries expected for 2023.”

If you’re a little late to the party and order today, the brand says current orders are for cars with a build slot of June 2023, “meaning they’d receive the vehicle in Q3.”

The company has also confirmed there will be only a marginal difference in wait time between variants. This is in contrast to some other brands which have much longer wait times for vehicles which have certain supply-constrained features, like blind spot monitoring.

Other brands have chosen to omit features completely, or even remove the ability to order certain vehicles to avoid longer waiting times.

Representatives for Ineos wouldn’t be drawn on how many orders the brand had received for the Grenadier so far, only saying that the brand is “pleased to have well over a year's worth of orders” in its backlog.

There are three body styles of the Grenadier 4x4, a basic Utility Wagon designed to carry loads, a Station Wagon, designed to carry five occupants, and a dual-cab pick-up, which is planned but not currently available.

Standard equipment on base cars includes such rugged items as 17-inch steel wheels, dirt and water resistant seat and interior trim, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, heavy-duty flooring, and a centre differential lock.

There is the choice of either a petrol (210kW/450Nm) or diesel (183kW/550Nm) 3.0-litre inline six engine sourced from BMW.

The Ineos Grenadier is based on a ladder-frame chassis and has a Tremec two-speed transfer case and permanent four-wheel drive via a ZF eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission.

The Grenadier is available as a SUV or ute.

The base Grenadier Utility Wagon costs from $84,500, before on-road costs, while the five-seat wagon costs from $85,500.

From there, buyers can choose the Trialmaster edition (from $96,495), which adds a raised air intake, utility belt, access ladder, tow hitch, utility rails, an auxiliary battery, a high load auxiliary switch panel, a compass with altimeter, differential locks front and rear, BF Goodrich KO2 tyres, park assist, heated mirrors, a heated windscreen, a central storage compartment, puddle lamps, auxiliary charge points and an enhanced anti-theft system.

Alternatively, from the same $96,495 cost, buyers can choose the Fieldmaster Edition which adds 17-inch alloy wheels, locking wheel nuts, safari windows, an access ladder, tow hitch, leather interior trim, heated front seats, a compass and altimeter, park assist, heated exterior mirrors, locking stowage box, puddle lamps and door lighting, auxiliary charge points, and an enhanced anti-theft alarm.

Ineos also throws in the corresponding namesake jacket from Belstaff for each of the two enhanced editions.

All Ineos Grenadiers will be sourced from a plant in Hambach, France, after the company controversially dumped a plan to build the cars in a new factory in Wales.

The final decision to re-fit the ex-Mercedes factory in France was down to its proximity to BMW from where the company will source its powertrains.

Looking to the future, Ineos also has a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai to source hydrogen fuel cells as its potential replacement for combustion engines, telling CarsGuide in November, 2021 the technology makes more sense for vehicles which need to travel long distances and reach remote locations.

It also syncs up nicely with its Ineos parent company which produces in the order of 400,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year.