{"id":34266,"date":"2025-03-20T08:59:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=34266"},"modified":"2025-03-20T08:59:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:59:01","slug":"payne-across-the-american-safari-in-old-school-ineos-dirt-kickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/payne-across-the-american-safari-in-old-school-ineos-dirt-kickers","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Across the American safari in old school Ineos dirt-kickers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aspen, Colorado<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 With snow piled three feet on either side of a mountain trail, I punched twin ceiling buttons to activate front\/rear differential lockers on my 2025 Ineos Grenadier tester. GRRRRRRRR! With all four wheels churning in unison in low gear, the British beast charged across the white landscape.<\/p>\n

Grenadier may have been born to take on the arid grasslands of Africa, but this Brit feels right at home in America.<\/p>\n

For generations, we Yanks have fallen in love with English-made Land Rover 4x4s featured in the movie \u201cBorn Free,\u201d National Geographic documentaries and African safari trips. The boxy, rugged, lovable Grenadier is a Rover for a new generation of adventure-seekers.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Ineos Grenadier is on sale in 50 countries with the United States making up 60% of sales so far.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Grenadier is as familiar as a brawny Jeep Wrangler, as exotic as the BMW drivetrain under its hood, as quirky as a pith-helmeted safari guide. Indeed, it was inspired by Ineos chairman and adventure-seeker Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his safaris with veteran South African guide Charles Van Rensburg. The two friends mourned the passing of the iconic, ladder-framed, solid-axle Land Rover Defender in 2016 (which was finally succeeded by a softer, unibody, independent-suspension SUV in 2020).<\/p>\n

The pair brainstormed a Rover replacement that could not only deflect charging elephant tusks on Botswana expeditions (Van Rensburg told me this happens a couple times a year) but also wow U.S. luxury buyers with a hip daily driver. Marshaling the capital resources of petrochemical giant Ineos Group Ltd., billionaire Ratcliffe sought to recreate the Defender to repopulate African safari fleets \u2014 and global garages.<\/p>\n

The result is Grenadier \u2014 a Jeep with an English accent, powered by a German BMW inline-6, and loaded with Ratcliffe\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n

Appropriately, this gas-swiggin\u2019, upscale Wrangler has a sibling, the Quartermaster pickup that echoes Jeep\u2019s Gladiator.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Ineos Grenadier comes standard with 4WD, all-terrain tires, and off-road toughness.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I flogged both all over Aspen\u2019s Rocky Mountains and they performed like they had lived there as long as imported European draft horses. Like the World War II-born Jeep and Land Rovers, Grenadier and Quartermaster take their names from English military tradition.<\/p>\n

The twins differ only in that the Quartermaster sports a 5.1-foot box out back and reduced rear-seat legroom \u2014 in keeping with the cramped back seats of midsize competitors like the GMC Canyon AT4, Chevy Colorado ZR2 and Ford Ranger Raptor.<\/p>\n

Step up into Grenadier\u2019s cockpit 10.5 inches off the ground and drop into a WW2 Lancaster aircraft. A waterfall of switches, buttons and dials roll down the console controlling climate, radio, altimeter and more. Altimeter? Yes, the round gauge registered 9,532 feet in the Rockies.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe is also an avid sailor, so naturally the dash is bracketed by red and green hash marks designating, respectively, port and starboard in accordance with maritime colors. Aye aye, Captain.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Ineos Grenadier is a two-row SUV with a roomy cabin in front and back. The Quartermaster pickup is much tighter in the backseat.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Overhead are more buttons and switches to manage the aforementioned off-road tools as well as external add-ons like winches and lights. Screens? You get one \u2014 atop the dash like a piece of bread that just popped out of a toaster. The Ineos is simple, quirky, mechanical, cool.<\/p>\n

I awoke the Lancaster bomber \u2014 er, SUV \u2014 with an old-fashioned turn-key and thought about running down the airplane checklist with my co-pilot.<\/p>\n