How many cars have been built?

[ADVAW8S]

Hi Roach

No offence, but I don't think the Grenadier is a vehicle for someone considering alternatives (With the exception of the G-Wagon, possibly). I think of this is a vehicle you commit to, and keep for many years. This is vehicle for which purchase is just the start of a journey. Older LR Defenders, Jeep, Toyota, etc also have owners wishing to do the same. This is not in my view, a vehicle for accounting. I suspect that most of us on here have purchased this vehicle with no tax incentives and in many cases, with no finance.

By way of encouragement. Here in the UK there is an overland expedition company called ARDventures. The owner is very experienced in this type of vehicle and although an early hand raiser, he cancelled his order and put a vid' on YouTube explaining why he was so disappointed with the Grenadier.
He now owns a Grenadier and loves it. Not exactly sure what won him over but he needed it to fill a specific purpose.

Best of luck in whatever you choose.

PS.
Hope I don't sound condescending but this is not a vehicle I would ever 'recommend'. I would simply tell of my personal experience and admiration of the vehicle.

Gotta ask, did the new owner put out a video about him buying the Grenadier? If he didn't, one would hope he would. It seems people are quick to go public on one opinion but when they change their opinion, they go silent.

 

[Roach]

PS.
Hope I don't sound condescending but this is not a vehicle I would ever 'recommend'. I would simply tell of my personal experience and admiration of the vehicle.

Not at all...your feedback is honest and to the point.

I get the enthusiasts POV, I'm not one of those. I'm also not a FOMO person so I'm ok with waiting to see how things play out.

My use case is more "every day", like towing, general property/animal duties, and an occasional adventure. I have found 10 years to be a sweet spot on TCO. Something I do expect in the way of "accounting" is that the company is in business after 10 years. For Ineos, I have a concern...since its private its hard to tell if things are leaning one way or the other so I look for pieces that are telling. Inventory building up is an indicator that is semi public but not being an industry expert I don't know if thats 1% of cars sold or 30%.

 

[mcdoogs]

Ineos Auto is private which does mean transparency is sorely lacking.

On the other hand, it's also not a typical automotive startup as it's privately funded as a passion project by a very rich man and his company which is the 3rd-4th largest petrocehmical company in the world. Something like $65-70B in annual revenue. So it's insulated to a large extent from the kind of macroeconomic variances a startup that has to raise outside money or IPOs whilst still unprofitable (ie $RIVN $LCID) faces.

I think there is very little threat of Ineos Auto ceasing global operations entirely as long as Ratcliffe (72) is alive and in control of Ineos. After all he's been funding it since ~2017 it seems unlikely he'll shitcan it after only a few years of production.

A much more likely risk is tariffs on EU imports neutering sales in the US and Ineos ceasing operations here. After all, add 25% and the Grenadier price now directly competes with full size Range Rover. Although the silver lining for folks who already own one is rarity should increase value, so long as you can keep it running and in good condition.

Ineos has obviously known new tariffs could be a possibility just as long as we have. I only have one anecdotal account to support this theory, my own, but my car has a build date of 04/2024 but only arrived at the dealer in late December a week or so before I bought it. When I bought it it hadn't even been unwrapped and dealer prepped yet. My theory is that Ineos has been importing surplus 2024 units to the US since the election to get ahead of tariffs. Its obviously just a theory, and maybe there are lots of reasons a car could take 8 months between build and dealer delivery that I dont know about.

 

[Old Salt]

The explaination might be as simple as Logistics. Willhelmsen is providing logistics. Depending upon which vessel they are using they could carry 4000-5000 Grenadiers per voyage. Looking at the build rate per day, more than likely they would build up inventory in France and then once they had enought to fill a vessel ship them to Georgia, thats minimum 4 months right there. Part two of logistics is OTR delivery from Georgia to the local dealers. They will not hire 500 trucks the day the Grens roll off the Car Carrier to start making deliveries, the deliveries will start trickling into the dealerships. The second half of the equation is when the local dealers are on the hook for the inventory cost. When I went to purchase my Grenadier in October of 24 they found a build I wanted sitting in the Port, by the time it was shipped up it was close to a month later before it arrived at the dealership. There was a good amount of inventory on the dealers lot then, when I was at the dealership mid January the lot was overflowing with Grenadiers, there were somewhere between 80-100 units. Are the dealers asking for more inventory or is it just being allocated regardless? This is a new vehicle from a new manufacture in a niche market, nothing is going to be what you normally see in the industry.

 

[mcdoogs]

Could be! Like I said, I don't know enough to make anything but guesses. I do find it very hard to believe that Ineos had expectations of blowout sales in the US at the price it's at given it's qualities, but I'm sure they consider the US to be a make-or-break market (along with China I'd imagine) so they'll ship a ton of cars here regardless.

 

[Tom109]

They will not hire 500 trucks the day the Grens roll off the Car Carrier to start making deliveries, the deliveries will start trickling into the dealerships.

As those of us in the first wave can attest, this is exactly the case. Boat unloads, then vehicles trickle through POE inspection, then onto trailers destined for dealers. Also due to vehicle size, they go flatbed which hold fewer vehicles than car haulers.

 

[Roach]

I did the same inventory count as previously posted of the stock on hand from the three dealers covering SoCal....it went down by one (over a 30 day period) .

Is there a way to tell the "build date" from the VIN? I thought VIN just covers MY but I'd be curious about how old is the stock on hand.

 

[Eric]

I did the same inventory count as previously posted of the stock on hand from the three dealers covering SoCal....it went down by one (over a 30 day period) .

Is there a way to tell the "build date" from the VIN? I thought VIN just covers MY but I'd be curious about how old is the stock on hand.

When buying new in the UK you get a Certificate of Conformity that among other information gives the build date.