Part 2
The other stuff.
For me the Grenadier is a bit fugly, it always has been to my eye but I'm odd like that and I sort of like the fact that it has its own 'face' that only a mother could love. From the front the step out half way up the body is totally series/defender, I never really saw it until I stood there in person, front end the overall shape to my eye is G wagon and its a bit Jeepy at the back. Split door is great, I'd prefer a little larger on the small door but thats just me.
Interior this vehicle looks great from any seat in the house, controls are easily accessible, visible and muscle memory will quickly kick in when needed. I'd mentioned elsewhere that I thought the switchgear for a few of the controls was a bit bland and samey, but in person it's apparent that this was from the photographs coloration and not the case to the naked eye. The ignition and key is buried deep into the front dashboard, I'm not sure if this will be a bit of a niggle to people with it being caught on knees or not. The haptics on some of the switchgear is not correct as they are pre production switches fitted to these specific vehicles so that needs to be taken into consideration when people are testing the feel of things.
There will be some product placement in North America, and they are actively looking at partners for this. Hardly surprising really when they have started already in Europe.
I passed on the comment that people have to drive sometimes several hours to attend the events involving overnight stays etc so any increase in weekend events for people that can't just take a few days off work would go down very well. This seemed to be well received so fingers crossed.
I asked about a long wheel based version with 3 rows, which I personally would prefer. This was met with 'we are concentrating on getting this to market before committing to derivatives', the same was said about the pickup or double cab bare bones chassis version thats been spotted.
Some of the comments from the attendees were insightful. One chap that turned up in His Rivian truck said after his Grenadier drive that the Grenadier is everything that the Rivian is not, and thats why I'll be selling it. Other commentary was in person its much better looking than in photographs and its a lot meatier and feels a lot more sturdy than anything I've driven since being in the army.
NA dealers.
All I found out is that they have not publicly announced their dealers yet, I was basically told, stand by and wait. However quite a few of the event attendees have been prospective dealers who have thrown their hat in the ring to IA, hopefully we'll get some of the more reputable ones being selected. If you're at any of the events then you may get some information about this from the other attendees as they could well be an appointed dealer, especially as we get further into the year. There was however no mention that I remember of BMW other than as powertrain supplier.
I mentioned that we were discussing a group buy on the forum and there were quite a few hand raisers. This was met with a raised eyebrow and a barely discernible reply accompanied with a wry grin of that should get you a pretty good deal with whichever dealer you go with.... So reading into this we can take our allocation to the dealer of choice, however this is my interpretation only. My plus 1 for the event was an early hand raiser for a Bronco 2 door and the IA staff were very interested in hearing the first hand customer experience with the delay and delivery of his Bronco. They gladly took the keys and gave the Ford a thorough going over while we were on our drive.
Pricing.
NA pricing is still not public as we know. The conversation however centered around the NA market being a little different than that in most other parts of the world due to the choice of vehicle that directly or indirectly competes with the Grenadier. We talked about an 'exotic' and yes it seems silly to call the Grenadier that, which is potentially priced double to the entry level Jeep or Bronco being bought by someone on middle income and with a dealer potentially a few hundred miles away and the nearest service agent similarly distanced and how that would work. I suggested that there perhaps was a market for an absolute bare bones version in NA to get initial pricing as low as possible to broaden the affordability, this was duly noted.
IA themselves.
I'm not going to go into too much details here as it's not the place, but they have assembled some very experienced individuals both old school and new. Discussing chassis geometry and methodology with someone that was intimately part of the development of the Discovery 3 platform and conversations with people from the more speedier end of the automotive industry yesterday really hammered it home that IA were aiming to be real deal long term automotive manufacturer and not a flash in the pan startup. Even though they effectively are a startup at this stage, and have brought a vehicle to market in 5 years from a sketch made in a pub in London is testament to the drive and determination of the boss and the team that were assembled to bring the Grenadier to market. The original sketch is stuck to the 'Grenadier' ceiling by the way with hundreds of other paper bills from around the world, so don't forget to look up the next time you're in town...
Oh and kudos to the person that brought the new generation lowered GT3rs to the event, I hope you didn't wreck anything on the way up the trail to the staging point
He drove through this.....
This is all from memory, I didn't record a transcript, so if there's something missing or a glaring omission then please let me know.
And just because I have to. All words written here are not indicative of IA's company line, policy or formal opinion or that of any of their employees, at least on the record so says I.
(I just found out that there is a 10K character limit on posts)
The other stuff.
For me the Grenadier is a bit fugly, it always has been to my eye but I'm odd like that and I sort of like the fact that it has its own 'face' that only a mother could love. From the front the step out half way up the body is totally series/defender, I never really saw it until I stood there in person, front end the overall shape to my eye is G wagon and its a bit Jeepy at the back. Split door is great, I'd prefer a little larger on the small door but thats just me.
Interior this vehicle looks great from any seat in the house, controls are easily accessible, visible and muscle memory will quickly kick in when needed. I'd mentioned elsewhere that I thought the switchgear for a few of the controls was a bit bland and samey, but in person it's apparent that this was from the photographs coloration and not the case to the naked eye. The ignition and key is buried deep into the front dashboard, I'm not sure if this will be a bit of a niggle to people with it being caught on knees or not. The haptics on some of the switchgear is not correct as they are pre production switches fitted to these specific vehicles so that needs to be taken into consideration when people are testing the feel of things.
There will be some product placement in North America, and they are actively looking at partners for this. Hardly surprising really when they have started already in Europe.
I passed on the comment that people have to drive sometimes several hours to attend the events involving overnight stays etc so any increase in weekend events for people that can't just take a few days off work would go down very well. This seemed to be well received so fingers crossed.
I asked about a long wheel based version with 3 rows, which I personally would prefer. This was met with 'we are concentrating on getting this to market before committing to derivatives', the same was said about the pickup or double cab bare bones chassis version thats been spotted.
Some of the comments from the attendees were insightful. One chap that turned up in His Rivian truck said after his Grenadier drive that the Grenadier is everything that the Rivian is not, and thats why I'll be selling it. Other commentary was in person its much better looking than in photographs and its a lot meatier and feels a lot more sturdy than anything I've driven since being in the army.
NA dealers.
All I found out is that they have not publicly announced their dealers yet, I was basically told, stand by and wait. However quite a few of the event attendees have been prospective dealers who have thrown their hat in the ring to IA, hopefully we'll get some of the more reputable ones being selected. If you're at any of the events then you may get some information about this from the other attendees as they could well be an appointed dealer, especially as we get further into the year. There was however no mention that I remember of BMW other than as powertrain supplier.
I mentioned that we were discussing a group buy on the forum and there were quite a few hand raisers. This was met with a raised eyebrow and a barely discernible reply accompanied with a wry grin of that should get you a pretty good deal with whichever dealer you go with.... So reading into this we can take our allocation to the dealer of choice, however this is my interpretation only. My plus 1 for the event was an early hand raiser for a Bronco 2 door and the IA staff were very interested in hearing the first hand customer experience with the delay and delivery of his Bronco. They gladly took the keys and gave the Ford a thorough going over while we were on our drive.
Pricing.
NA pricing is still not public as we know. The conversation however centered around the NA market being a little different than that in most other parts of the world due to the choice of vehicle that directly or indirectly competes with the Grenadier. We talked about an 'exotic' and yes it seems silly to call the Grenadier that, which is potentially priced double to the entry level Jeep or Bronco being bought by someone on middle income and with a dealer potentially a few hundred miles away and the nearest service agent similarly distanced and how that would work. I suggested that there perhaps was a market for an absolute bare bones version in NA to get initial pricing as low as possible to broaden the affordability, this was duly noted.
IA themselves.
I'm not going to go into too much details here as it's not the place, but they have assembled some very experienced individuals both old school and new. Discussing chassis geometry and methodology with someone that was intimately part of the development of the Discovery 3 platform and conversations with people from the more speedier end of the automotive industry yesterday really hammered it home that IA were aiming to be real deal long term automotive manufacturer and not a flash in the pan startup. Even though they effectively are a startup at this stage, and have brought a vehicle to market in 5 years from a sketch made in a pub in London is testament to the drive and determination of the boss and the team that were assembled to bring the Grenadier to market. The original sketch is stuck to the 'Grenadier' ceiling by the way with hundreds of other paper bills from around the world, so don't forget to look up the next time you're in town...
Oh and kudos to the person that brought the new generation lowered GT3rs to the event, I hope you didn't wreck anything on the way up the trail to the staging point
He drove through this.....This is all from memory, I didn't record a transcript, so if there's something missing or a glaring omission then please let me know.
And just because I have to. All words written here are not indicative of IA's company line, policy or formal opinion or that of any of their employees, at least on the record so says I.
(I just found out that there is a 10K character limit on posts)
