Billionaire founder of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has confirmed his intention to produce a small, full electric take on its 4×4 Grenadier as the brand looks to continue its expansion on the world stage.
The founder and chairman said he’s been sinking more than $1 billion into the project, with the potential all-electric 4×4 marking the second release from the company. There’s also plans to further develop hydrogen fuel cell powertrain technology for a future release alongside Hyundai.
While little to nothing is known about the small, all-electric take on the Grenadier, the company’s founder has opened up in a recent clip posted online. Speaking in a video produced in-house by INEOS, Jim Ratcliffe said that the company is looking carefully at producing “a smaller version of the Grenadier… electric”. He said:
“We need to embrace the future, which clearly, in an urban environment, is going to be electric – but even in a country environment, if you’re a farmer, you probably will have an electric vehicle you can drive around on tracks and things like that. So, you want one that’s capable, but it’s electric. I think that’s our vision at the moment.”
As it stands, INEOS has enlisted the help of BMW to produce a range of 3.0-litre inline-six petrol and diesel powertrains for its MY23 Grenadier lineup, which is set to be introduced to the Australian market in a three-variant lineup across both powertrains with prices starting from $84,500
The company says that it has plans to begin testing a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain later this year, but is yet to open up on a timeline of when a smaller, battery electric 4×4 would begin testing.
