Ineos Automotive will launch the delayed Fusilier 4x4 “in 2028 or 2029”, confirming its commitment to becoming a multi-model, mass-market car maker.
The follow-up to the Grenadier 4x4 was shown in concept form last year and planned to go on sale in 2027 as both a pure-electric car and a range-extender (REx).
According to CEO Lynn Calder, the delay “is all driven by [doubts about] powertrain” and “from regulators in key markets, notably in the EU and UK”.
Although the Fusilier REx’s engine would act as a generator for the battery, rather than directly driving the wheels, it “would be banned” under upcoming laws outlawing hybrids from 2035.
We’re too small to spend huge amounts on product development to then find that we can’t produce it, we can’t sell it, in key markets,” said Calder.
When many other car makers are winding back their commitments to phase out combustion engines, “we’re quite small to be taking gambles on things like that”, said Calder, “at a time when consumers don’t know what to buy, aren’t super-clear on what’s being regulated.
“In our minds, we know the product line-up we want, but how they’re powered is to come.”
“When we get some clarity from governments about what will be allowed to be sold, then we can do what I think automotive manufacturers should do, which is focus on what customers want to buy and then develop and sell that,” continued Calder, noting a disconnect between legislative requirements and how quickly consumers are adopting new tech.
Calder was speaking to Autocar at the opening of a biomass energy plant at Ineos’s factory in Hambach, France (formerly Mercedes-Benz’s ‘Smartville’), which will reduce the factory’s CO2 emissions by around 20% – to “beyond net zero” – as well as its heating costs. Heating is around 70% of all energy use at the plant.
Production of the Grenadier was suspended for four months late last year after seat supplier Recaro Automotive went into liquidation – having given Ineos only a few weeks’ notice, noted Calder.
The German firm has since been rescued by Italian supplier Proma Group and full Grenadier production speed will be achieved again in May.
Despite the hiatus, Ineos grew Grenadier sales by 40% last year as it entered its 50th worldwide market. One of them is China, by far the world’s largest.
