Ineos Automotive is close to official purchasing of Daimler’s Smart plant in France in its bid to make a rival to the old school Defender.

Ineos Automotive, the startup backed by petrochemicals giant Ineos, plans to make the Grenadier, a large SUV that is similar to the now-discontinued Land Rover Defender 110, in 2022. 

Ineos wants to finalise the acquisition of Daimler’s Hambach factory, in the coming weeks after French unions approved the project.

The site, which is the home of the smart EQ fortwo models, has been recently developed with a new dedicated SUV line, similar in size to the Grenadier, “which makes it ideally suited to the production of the Ineos Grenadier”, says the British company owned by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Production of Smart models will move to China from France after Daimler said last year it will build next-generation Smart vehicles through a joint venture with Geely.

Until then, the French government has asked Daimler to continue to build Smart cars there, or provide other work, to ensure continuity of employment.

Ineos Automotive suspended work on new build plans in Wales and Portugal after Daimler announced the closing of the French plant in July.

“Overcapacity has long been a major issue for the automotive sector,” said Dirk Heilmann, CEO of Ineos Automotive. 

“Of course we considered this route previously, but as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic some new options such as this one with the plant in Hambach have opened up that were simply not available to us previously. We are therefore having another look – and reviewing whether the addition of two new manufacturing facilities is the right thing to do in the current environment.”

“COVID has had an impact on our build schedules,” added Heilmann, “with ground clearing works and construction held up by the social distancing measures that have been required. Safety is of course paramount, but we also have an obligation to do what is right for the business – and so need to assess these new opportunities in order to maintain or improve on our timelines.”

"The Grenadier project started by identifying a gap in the market, abandoned by a number of manufacturers, for a utilitarian off-road vehicle,” Ratcliffe has said. 

“This gave us our engineering blueprint for a capable, durable and reliable 4x4 built to handle the world’s harshest environments."

Ineos plans to manufacture 25,000 Grenadiers annually at the plant.