√2024 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster production begins, due in Australia next year

The first Ineos Grenadier Quartermasters have rolled off the production line in France, but the Land Rover Defender-inspired utes are not due in Australia until next year.

Production of the 2024 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster ute has commenced at the factory in France previously home to Smart city cars.

The Quartermaster is the dual-cab pick-up version of the Land Rover Defender-inspired Grenadier four-wheel-drive wagon, built by a start-up founded and backed by a British billionaire and the chemical company he started.

While deliveries in Europe are scheduled to commence in December 2023, Ineos says “shipments to Asia-Pacific” are due to follow “soon after” – including Australian arrivals scheduled for the first half of 2024.

The Grenadier Quartermaster was previously expected in local showrooms by the end of this year.

Orders have been open since July 2023, priced from $110,000 to $123,000 plus on-road costs – between $12,000 and $13,475 more than the Grenadier wagon, which arrived in Australia earlier this year.

Ineos says a cab-chassis version “using the same frame as the Quartermaster pick-up will enter production in 2024”, which it claims “will be specifically aimed at conversion specialists and commercial body builders.”

The Quartermaster ute sits on a 305mm-longer wheelbase than the wagon – at 3227mm – with a ladder frame, and a tray (1564mm long and 1619mm wide) said to be large enough to fit a Euro-sized pallet between the wheel arches.

It offers the same choice of 210kW/450Nm 3.0-litre turbo inline six-cylinder petrol or 183kW/550Nm 3.0-litre turbo inline six-cylinder diesel engines as the wagon – sourced from BMW – with an eight-speed automatic transmission and selectable four-wheel drive.

Ineos quotes a payload of up to 832kg for the diesel and up to 907kg for the petrol, an 800mm wading depth, and 264mm of ground clearance.

All Grenadiers are manufactured in Hambach, France – in a factory formerly owned by Mercedes-Benz and used to build Smart city cars.

After European deliveries begin in December 2023 – pending any delays – Ineos says “shipments to Asia Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East [are planned to follow] soon after,” ahead of North American “sales … scheduled to begin in early 2024.”

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