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Development delays related to the global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed back the development and subsequent release of the Land Rover Defender-inspired 2021 Ineos Grenadier, as engineers continue their global testing programme of the all-new off-roader.
Newly-released images from the newly-minted Ineos vehicle manufacturer give us our best idea yet of what a production-ready Grenadier will look like, as it runs through its next phase of validation and testing.
Stemming from British chemical company Ineos, the Grenadier has evolved into a global development and production project. Development and engineering is being undertaken by renowned Austrian firm Magna Steyr.
The most recent round of testing was undertaken in the Schöckl mountains of Austria, which Magna Steyr also uses to test and develop the new Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
The Ineos Grenadier tackles Austria s Schöckl mountain in dynamic testing
The development team for the Ineos Grenadier have taken the vehicle to some of the most punishing and formidable off-road testing grounds globally. In its final phase of dynamic testing, prototypes of the Grenadier were driven up the trails of the Schöckl mountain near the Austrian headquarters of Magna Steyr, which is Ineos’s engineering partner, as part of an engineering gate assessment. Magna Steyr has used the Austrian mountains to test ultimate off-road performance and durability for special-purpose vehicles for decades as the hard-rock terrain there is unforgiving and destructive.
Bosses behind the Ineos project cited unavoidable delays through 2020 as a result of the pandemic, stating that production would start in July next year at the latest .
It’s been a tough year for everyone, including for fresh-on-the-market British carmaker Ineos, who is still planning on releasing the very Land Rover Defender-inspired Grenadier onto the roads of the world. Only now, it is obvious (and official) that it will do so later than originally planned.