The Ineos Grenadier SUV to Land in U.S. in 2023

• Ineos wants to break into the U.S. market.
• The company says the five-seat, two-row SUV will be here by 2023.
• European production will start next year.

If you haven't seen an Ineos Grenadier in the metal just yet, you're not alone. The London chemical manufacturing company-turned-automaker isn't quite finished with its first big project, the Grenadier, but it's well into 1.2 million miles of preproduction testing. After development is finished, Ineos has big plans to bring its Land Rover Defender look-alike to North America by 2023.

An important part of bringing a car to the United States is to find a dealer network. In a roundtable discussion with Greg Clark, the company's head of commercial operations in North America, said Ineos is evaluating dealer networks right now to determine a partner to sell the five-seat, two-row SUV. But, he said, it could work with more than one here in the States when the time comes to put the Grenadier on sale.

The dealerships will also help customers maintain the cars throughout their lifespan, but they won't be the only way you'll be able to maintain a Grenadier. Ineos also plans on giving owners a digital manual that has 3D computer-aided design (CAD) renderings of every single part of the vehicle. While the CAD files won't come with measurements (so you wouldn't be able to, say, 3D print your own parts), the ability to see the car on your computer in 3D and expand every part down to the nuts and bolts should make maintaining and fixing the car much easier.

Ineos plans to bring the Grenadier to the U.S. with just one engine, a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine that's being supplied by BMW. There is a diesel available in other markets, but Clark said there isn't enough of a business case to bring it to the States. Clark also mentioned that Ineos plans to launch the SUV with a five-year, 60,000-mile warranty, but that could change by the time it brings the car to market.

Manufacturing will take place in Austria, and Grenadiers for the European market will start production in July or August of next year. Those destined for North America will begin production in early summer of 2023, with expected delivery to the States by the end of that year. Preorders will begin September 30 for the 63,000 customers who expressed early interest, "hand-raisers," as Clark called them. They'll be able to order the car from Ineos itself. After two weeks, he said, preordering will be opened up to the wider public.

Edmunds says

It's an ambitious plan, but Ineos is determined to break into the U.S. market, and we hope to see these Defender look-alikes on the road by the end of 2023.