- The 4x4 will go into production next year

- Tested at Magna Steyr’s proving ground

Many of you might not remember the Ineos Grenadier so let’s jog your memory first. In July last year, Ineos Automotive – the principal partner of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team – took the wraps off an all-new 4x4 called the Grenadier which was built from the ground up on an all-new platform for a single purpose – meeting the demands for a rugged, capable and comfortable go-anywhere working vehicle.

We saw some digital pictures of Grenadier back then, but Ineos has confirmed that it wasn’t an all show and no go. A real working prototype of 4x4 has conquered the Austrian mountains in the first round of testing. Tested at the Magna Steyr’s proving ground near its headquarters, the Schockl mountainous range became the ultimate testing ground for the Grenadier’s off-road capability and durability.

Renowned for their unforgiving and destructive hard-rock terrain, the Austrian mountains have been used for decades by Magna Steyr. And since the Austrian component maker is also Ineos’ engineering partner it came as a no brainer to test the off-roader at their testing trails.

After the outing at the Austrian mountains, the Grenadier’s testing programme promises to see more than 130 second-phase prototypes accumulating 1.8 million kilometres in extreme environments around the world. This includes subjecting the Defender lookalike to intense hot weather testing in some of the harshest environments including Death Valley in the USA and the dunes of the Middle East.

To achieve its rigorous testing targets, INEOS has revised its project timings and pushed back the start of Grenadier production owing to the unavoidable delays through 2020. So the production is now slated to commence in Hambach in July 2022.