![]() ![]() The government of Wales was reported in July 2020 to have spent £5 million on supporting the Ineos factory development at Bridgend with enabling work and road infrastructure, and said at that time that it would "look to recoup appropriate costs from the company" if the Bridgend factory was cancelled. ![]() Ken Skates, Welsh Government Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales said it would be "a real blow if Ineos reneged on its very public commitment". "It's a serious business consideration," Tennant said. On 7 July 2020, it was reported that Ineos Automotive was in talks with Daimler AG, the owners of Mercedes-Benz, to buy the Smart factory in Hambach, France, and build the Grenadier there instead of Wales and Portugal. In June 2020, Ineos Automotive unveiled a first look at the exterior design of the Grenadier, as well as some technical information relating to the vehicle's chassis, towing capabilities and suspension. The brand expects to build 25,000 Grenadier models a year at full capacity. Mark Tennant, the commercial director of Ineos Automotive, told the Financial Times there had been 50,000 expressions of interest before the designs of the vehicle had been made public. Development of the off-roader will see it undergo 1.1 million miles (1.8 million km) as part of a grueling testing regime. This partnership would oversee turning the development project concept into a mass-produced machine. In December 2019, Ineos Automotive announced the Austrian-based Magna Steyr as their engineering partner for the development of the Grenadier. Ineos Automotive also confirmed that it would be investing in a sub-assembly plant in Estarreja, Portugal, for the Grenadier's body and chassis. It was announced in September 2019 that the Grenadier would be manufactured at a bespoke new manufacturing facility on a greenfield site in Bridgend, Wales. In March 2019, Ineos Automotive announced that it had entered into a powertrain technology partnership with BMW. The first deliveries were made in December 2022. ![]() Production started in July 2022 at Ineos Automotive plant in Hambach, France. The vehicle was proposed to be manufactured in Wales, but later confirmed to be made in France. Comparing this project to James Dyson's plan to build an electric car in Singapore, which was cancelled in October 2019, writing off £500 million of his own money, an industry insider commented "If JLR, which made the Defender for 70 years, is struggling, then that's an indicator of how tough it's going to be for a newcomer". The vehicle is named after Ratcliffe's favourite pub, The Grenadier, in Belgravia, London, where the initial idea was considered, and where a promotional presentation was shown. Ratcliffe later decided to initiate a project to design and build a similar vehicle under the codename Projekt Grenadier. Ratcliffe came up with the idea of building a replacement for his Land Rover Defender and approached Jaguar Land Rover to buy the tooling to continue production after the original model ceased at Solihull after 67 years in January 2016. was founded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire and chairman of the multinational chemicals company Ineos. ![]()
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