Ineos just debuted its third model, the Fusilier, a smaller electric SUV. Like the two that came before it, the Grenadier and the Quartermaster, the Fusilier takes aim at the off-roading lovers among us. The company even has an answer for those worried about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat battery. The Fusilier will also be available with a low-emission range-extending option.
The Fusilier marks a significant shift for Ineos. The Grenadier and the Quartermaster share the same chassis. They also employ combustion engines, gas, and diesel, as their main means of conveyance. On the other hand, the Fusilier sits on an electric-vehicle skateboard chassis. It’s shorter both in overall length and height too. It looks as though it’s sized somewhere between a Jeep Renegade and the now-dead Jeep Cherokee.
At the same time, it keeps the rugged squarish looks of its larger siblings and gives off pint-sized G-Wagon vibes. The doors will be aluminum and the wheels look as though they at least mimic beadlock capability. It’ll be built by the folks at Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria, and the automaker says that it’ll test it nearby at Schöckl mountain. That all sounds and looks fine but let’s talk about that powertrain.
Range Extender Or Pure EV
The biggest news is that the Fusilier is going to be available with an all-electric drivetrain and with a range-extender. Ineos doesn’t say exactly what the battery size, range, or output will be for either version.
According to Autocar, the electric-only version will have 249 miles of range while the range-extender version gets a battery that has around 70% of that so in the neighborhood of 168 miles. Those figures are tied to the WLTP test cycle though so they’ll likely drop lower than that in EPA testing. Evidently, the range extender will be a gas-powered engine and work similarly to the way the BMW i3 range extender does. Autocar claims that Ineos has confirmed those details but we’ve reached out to Ineos directly as well.
Why go with a range extender? Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS put it this way;
“As we developed this vehicle, we quickly concluded that in order to move towards decarbonization but continue making cars that consumers want to drive, we need a mix of powertrain technologies. BEVs are perfect for certain uses: shorter trips and urban deliveries, but industry and governments need to have realistic expectations around other technologies that can help accelerate the necessary pace of change. That is the reason we are offering an additional powertrain for the Fusilier, one that dramatically reduces emissions but has the range and refueling capabilities needed.”
Getting stuck in the middle of nowhere wouldn’t be fun for anyone and so Ineos is covering its bases. Those who plan to only ever use the vehicle for short trips could likely save some cash on the non-range-extended version too. When David drove the Ineos Grenadier last year he called it “so close to being perfect.” If the Fusilier can follow in those footsteps while adding a bit of environmental friendliness and flexibility for a variety of customers then it could be a big win.
Ineos has already started deliveries of the Grenadier and the Quartermaster is already in production. Expect it to be a couple of years before the Fusilier begins production. If it’s in line with the other two vehicles in the lineup we should see it start for significantly below $70,000. Official information about planned production specs are expected before the end of the 2024 calendar year.
This looks like the “We already have a Suzuki Jimmy at home” version.
Except we don’t as the current Jimny isn’t sold in several countries.
And in other countries it is only sold in it’s commercial version because of emission laws.
I’ve driven close to a few of the Grendadaiererrers or whatever they are called, and they are interesting, but there’s just something proportionally… not right about them?
Maybe Adrian Clarke can explain it?
However, this smaller version has much better proportions and I like a lot more.
That line of the rear door looks a bit odd though.
I didn’t see that, you’re right, the rear of this new model could use some adjustments.
I have an idea. Let’s buy the tooling that was used to make the Santana PS-10/Iveco Massif and make our own Defender clone! I’m sure the tooling is still just sitting there in Spain and we could call it the H. Badger.
At least they showed it in what will probably be it’s natural habitat, outside a pub in Chelsea.
A pub outside Old Trafford would have been more appropriate.
So the manufacturer is releasing no information. But somehow a car site is claiming they have the information?
This is the first car I’ve seen where I immediately think it looks Chinese (seriously, it looks a LOT like the Beijing BJ212 from dead on, and the rest of the thing looks a lot like a WEY Tank 300) and I mean that in a genuinely positive way.
Considered hot take: Ineos is gearing up to print money. “Significantly below $70,000”, to me, reads “Wrangler/Bronco competitive pricing”. If it has off road chops commensurate with the rest of the line, it’ll be the first fully electric off roader (as in, not just appearances). Add the fashionable G-Wagen-esque styling, and you’ve got something that appeals to the bros and their bro-wives equally. Maybe real off roaders even; tough to say with as little information as is available. This is the Ineos Cayenne. The money machine that will fund the passion project.
Yeah $70,000 for a suppose competitor? Needs to half of Jeep or 60% of Bronco to compare. Who pays the same price in hopes of the vehicles work with no support at all in the country? Yeah Tesla did great until neatest repair facility is hundreds of miles away. How about neatest facility is halfway around the world? It would be cheaper to give a new vehicle than repair any particular damage.
Big IF it has off-road chops. It’s on an electric skateboard, which means independent suspension all around, which most likely means it’s crap off-road. Not necessarily, but very likely.
Meanwhile, the Suzuki Jimny has been made into an autonomous robot…
That’s was motivated by new cars in Australia now having to come with at least autonomous emergency braking from factory, and Maruti Suzuki likely deciding this provided an ideal opportunity for testing out more advanced ADAS features in a real world setting. It’s only in the 5-door model too, which came out locally after the March 2023 cutoff of introduction of new cars without AEB. The 3-door, having been in the market already by that time, isn’t required to be sold with assists.
No… really…they’ve been converted into autonomous EV robots for factories and mine sites!
Oh ok, that I didn’t know! That’s awesome, and also sensible. Seems like a better way to beta test than on public roads. But the Australian 5-door Jimny does come with fancy ADAS, and I believe it’s because Suzuki saw this as an opportunity to do some real world testing.
That’s correct. Some of the ADAS is actually required now to comply with Oz Design Rules. I await local pricing with interest…
Yeah, automatic emergency breaking must come in all cars introduced to the market after March 2023. Seems like an interesting way to ease people into assisted driving, slow regulatory increments.
I’m really interested in this, but I want to know if I can retrofit the range extender AFTER buying the vehicle.
In the State of California, your annual vehicle registration is based on your purchase price. With the state of taxes being what they are in California, we’re paying out the nose, the ass, eyes, mouth, and ears.
Assuming that the Range Extender is a multi-thousand dollar option, it would be nice if it could be purchased as a kit to be installed afterward in this great state of sunshine and f***ing bottomless taxes.
As an EV replacement for the Generic Aspirational SUV, with a range extender that will probably burn 10 gallons of gasoline in its entire lifetime, this is a Very Good Thing. Thank you mad Sir James.
Good lord this is terrible. Slightly less terrible than the Grenadier, but still terrible.
How about in black?
Black hides a lot of sins. But still no.
Agree.
Oh, it’s properly “I paid extra for this” ugly and awkward. Yer punter down the pub can afford something merely nice-looking and functional.
…but it gets the “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” prize for grille design.
Not going disagree. It looks like the Lego Defender with a 3D printed body kit that was assembled by a committee of children.
I think it looks fine. Maybe that’s because I saw a Gen1 Mirai today so in comparison anything looks fine.
As a commoner with no background in design, I like it. But I’m one of the unwashed masses I reckon. But, then again, I love the Jaguar E-Type so there’s that…
Look at the details. The ring headlights where it’s not a continuous ring. The parking sensor not integrated into the shape of the bumper properly.
I see them. Does it have some imperfect details? Details that you would have done differently? Sure. But it’s all subjective…. but not “terrible”. I actually like it a lot, still.
Okay this thing is pretty sweet
This appears to exactly the right size for sucha vehicle.
So obviously the American safety Nazis will find some complaint about it.
I mean, if it’s bigger than a Jeep Renegade, which is most certainly US-legal…..
You know, the cork screw pasta. It was a fusilli Jeep
But will they change the team of the cycling team? I’m not sure Carlton Kirby or Sean Kelly can even pronounce Fusilier.
I usually just mumble something silly, then end with “ee-ay”.
From the looks of the thing, it’s pronounced “Bronco Sport”.
Damnit, I knew I should have opted to be a trust fund baby!
snark aside, I like the look, and think this is a great idea: were I in that tax bracket, I’d be much more likely to drop coin on an off-roader with a range-extender as being stuck out on the trails with a flat battery would be a serious ordeal
Looks like a Mercedes G-Wagen
Their Grenadier looks like a last-gen Land Rover Defender 110, and the Quartermaster looks like a last-gen Defender 130 pickup.
Does Ineos actually have any original ideas, or just a Xerox machine?
You’re correct in that all their models look like something else. Buuuuuuttttt all the ones you’ve listed were originally created as tools, and their form followed their function, which amusingly makes their design attractive in a certain way.
So you could kindly say that they aren’t copying, they’re just allowing form to follow function. You could also say that Land Rover has largely abandoned the look, so Ineos have claimed it.
I imagine as a new entrant to the market you’re also wrestling with two opposing thoughts:
It appears that Ineos has gone for the safer of these two options. Perhaps if they get past year 5 and are relatively successful we’ll see them move away from the Xerox to something more distinctly “Ineos”.
If they employed a fucking car designer instead of the guy who does Radcliffe’s yachts it’d be a fucking start.
I seriously wonder if Ineos is the modern day Fisker of 2012
The modern day fisker is the new fisker.
Ineos is building and selling good cars so far
Would you take the job if offered?
Compromise my pro-EU outlook by working for a Brexit supporting tax-dodger loon who probably likes getting his own way?
it’d have to be a lot of money.
I fucking hated his move when he was looking for a place to build his stuff, putting in concurrence 3 factory in 3 dead area from différents countries, and push the workers to lowball themselves to shit, to be ble to keep working (ie enslaved).
It’s amazing how many bespoke vehicle manufacturers will spend limitless money on engineering componentry, and then cheap out on a little design coherence, by simply hiring a guy. Your frustration is palpable. Understandably.
Presumably because they have an ego driven maniac in charge, who doesn’t want to be told their ideas are shit/impossible, by a competent chief designer.
I don’t understand INEOS cars. The initial Grenade was a reasonable idea, a cheap, classic defender type car, that as reality and the practicalities of car manufacturing hit it became more and more compromised/further from the brief. It feels like it should’ve been cancelled as a bad idea at several points during development. Even James Dyson had enough humility to pull the plug on his ego driven car project eventually.
The funny part is Dyson, that ‘champion’ of industrial design, deliberately didn’t hire professional car designers (while hoovering up expertise from the industry for everything else) because he thought they didn’t know what they were doing and he knew better.
He later admitted that was one of his biggest mistakes.
We bought into a Dyson stick vacuum- really disappointed in the industrial design, everything is chintzy and I wish we had the room for a Miele and just bought one of those(our house has no closets so a Roomba and stick vacuum is the best combo for keeping things clean and being able to actually stash away.)
You know, he might have had something going on there. Car design gets very idiosyncratic and stuck in ruts, and some of the best car designs ever were drawn up by people who started as non-automotive industrial designers. A whole lot of the best car designers were not exclusively automotive. If Dyson wanted something that didn’t look like every other car, not hiring car designers would be the way to go.
All of this at terrible risk of very offending the resident car designer.
There is the odd outlier here and there. Flaminio Bertoni started out as a sculptor. Loewy was more multi-disciplinary but his impact on car design was mostly as a critic rather than a creator. A lot ‘not traditional car designers’ in the past had an aptitude for it and found their way into the profession by working in other creative industries first because the formal education and career path didn’t exist back then. Bill Mitchell started out in advertising.
These days it’s too specialized for people without the necessary experience. What Dyson should have done is hired professionals but set a strong brief to ensure a distinct appearance that was still recognizably part of the Dyson house style. He said he didn’t realize you can’t have long straight lines on a car, because they look like they’re sagging. A car designer could have told him this in the very first meeting.
It is a few outliers here and there, but those outliers include some of the best designs and some of the most legendary names, and I think that’s saying something.
Lol if you can’t have long straight lines on a car then nobody told the designers of my f150, or my Honda, or my Jeeps, or just about any American car built between 1960 and 1985.
I’m not a fan of hardtop vehicles for offroading.
Nor am I a fan of LWB 4 door vehicles for offroading.
cry me a jimny?
Current Jimny is only sold as a hardtop and it has a 4 door variant :'(
it could be possible if the marketing schmucks realized the demand.
Honestly they should partner with Jeep. Suzuki gets to sell the Jimny in the US (As a Jeep CJ) and in exchange Jeep lends them their expertise in making “convertible” 4X4s (which considering Ford’s issues with their Bronco hard tops seems useful) so they can codevelop “convertible” Jimnys where Jeep will keep the monopoly for the US market on them and Suzuki will get to sell these new variants everywhere else.
Also I’d hope it would lead to a Solid front axle Jimny and a ton more aftermarket support like that of regular Jeeps in the US.
oh also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSHA0KjkB7Q
I don’t consider the rear hatch a door myself.
It’s simply impossible not to call it the Fusilli Grenadier
Wouldn’t it also have been better to call the other model Quartier Masterier ?
If it’s in line with the other two vehicles in the lineup we should see it start for significantly below $70,000.
As in $25k?
$69 999 is a statistically significant amount under $70k
I prefer $25k. Or $.25