It seems like the last couple pages of this thread could be summed up by the old Winston Churchill quote of a common people divided by a common languageā¦
And all seriousness, I took delivery of my Grenadier in late August after a ridiculous number of delays, it is what it is. At the time I took Delivery, I had a 2023 Mercedes G63, 2023 Chevy Tahoe Z 71, and a 2023 Bronco.
The Grenadier is unlike any other vehicle in terms of the anti-technology and back to old-school way of thinking. Itās clearly a niche market, but for those who like this type of thing, there is nothing else that comes close.
In the last several weeks, my Tahoe 71 is gone. A week and a half ago I got rid of the G wagen. I have owned at least one G wagen consistently for the last eight years.
Having the ability to choose getting in the G wagen or the grenadier was an easy decision, what used to be fun about the G wagen has been completely overtaken with technology and demand for gimmicks. It is not what it was a decade ago.
If the grenadier price point was 50 grand more, I donāt think they would lose any high-end buyers at all. Some of the dumb spec early orders that were trying to keep things cheap would have been eliminated and I think thatās whatās killing the market. Once those are gone, I canāt imagine any dealer would let somebody order those without a significant deposit. Thatās one thing the current dealerships could not do because these orders were already pre-existing. There really wasnāt much business guidance, and a bunch of silly things from people looking to jump into the seat.
A couple of years ago when I ordered my grenadier, I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of a test pilot program for what could be a really cool product or something that could completely fall flat on its face. I figure that the quality would be, a little bit good and a little bit bad for the final product, although thereās some electrical and programming issues, the end product far exceeds any expectation I had.
Once the seat issue or whatever the trim component is is resolved, I think a lot of the old inventory will have been moved on, and the dealership will remain strong. In the meantime, it has been a fun ride and I look forward to even more fun.