By Barry Havenga
The older you get in life, the more comfortable you want to be – especially when traversing across Africa. When I left INEOS Automotive at the end of 2025 after four years launching a new brand, the Grenadier had become part our lifestyle. I bought a diesel Trialmaster model and began an after-market build with Alu-Cab.
By now you know the story: Conceived in a London pub with a sketch on a £5 pound note, INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe set out to build a 4X4 that no one was making anymore. A no-nonsense, rugged and reliable utilitarian vehicle that offered the best of both worlds: Extreme off-road capability and on-road comfort.
Inspired by off-road icons, INEOS studied what made them great and took those features to engineering – but kept it simple – building from the ground up. The more electronics you have, the more that can go wrong. Easy to service, tough to break.
After nearly two decades in journalism, I moved into brand marketing and in 2021 our boutique agency won the Grenadier account. Six months later I was offered the role of INEOS Automotive regional marketing manager for Sub-Saharan Africa.
From Nairobi to Nampo, Maun to Maputo, Dar es Salam to Dakar and Swakopmund to Stellenbosch we launched a 4X4 that was absolutely tailor-made for this continent – with a tagline that quickly gained traction: British Design. German Engineering. Built for Africa.
Usually, automotive prototypes are seldom seen by the public and normally crushed at factory after serving their purpose. But INEOS’ strategy was to take these ‘first-builds’ to the people (and media) – let them see what’s coming and test them. Test them hard. 130 2B Prototypes combined to do 1.8-million kilometers of global testing in all conditions. And the story was told extensively on social media, building huge anticipation with the ‘Building the Grenadier’ series of online episodes.
As a marketing team we benefitted from Jim Ratcliffe’s love of the African continent. In 2022 after an INEOS ownership group expedition through Lesotho and the Skeleton Coast, we took possession of three 2Bs for a Nambian photoshoot. Most other launch countries only had one prototype.
I met Sir Jim on a tiny, dusty airstrip near the Angolan border with his words being succinct upon handing over the keys: “Don’t clean them!”
That was the mentality we took when launching the brand in Africa: We were not a jacket and tie and shiny shoes automotive company.
The brief from London was to get the vehicles dirty. No human models leaning against vehicles staring into the sunset – always show the Grenadier working. A prototype lifespan was supposed to be curbed at 4,000km, but we ran ‘XX5’ (the fifth chassis that came off the line at Magna Steyr in Austria) to 27,500km!
Not a chance we were sending that beauty back to Europe. It had ‘houding’ and we donated it to the Franschhoek Motor Museum, where it’s still proudly on display, even with a dent on the front right fender where a baby elephant took a liking to it with its tusk.
I cheekily replied to an email from the Grenadier factory in Hambach (on the French/German border), that XX5 was still being used in Africa – “If you want it, come and find it – good luck though, it’s a big place!”
Of course launching a new automotive brand came with immense challenges. Coming out of Covid-19, there were production delays due to software issues and supply-chain hazards because of the war in eastern Europe.
At times it was hard having to initially say no to media outlets for vehicle loan requests, but immensely rewarding when we finally got ‘bums-on-seats’ – particularly from the tyre-kicking naysayers. Watching old Landy owners marvel at the design and attention-to-detail of the vehicle never got old – they knew exactly why the Grenadier was built.
In September 2023 the Sub-Saharan Africa INEOS Automotive team moved into their new headquarters at the East Pier precinct of the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, sporting a 4X4 track on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and a showroom floor with dealer partner SMG.
At the end of 2025, the Grenadier was being sold in 55 countries. In Africa, the initial station wagon Fieldmaster & Trialmaster models were then complimented by the Quartermaster (double-cab pickup truck) and the 2-seater N1 Commercial (VAT reclaimable) variant. INEOS also purchased Kavango Engineering in Botswana, who perform conversions to produce Grenadier Game Viewer.
A huge strength of the Grenadier is the ability to modify, customise and personalise. One of the perks of my position was to take the vehicle out into the field. When my fiancé and I bought our own, our experience made the following mods mandatory:
INEOS – Added to the Trialmaster trims were a bull-bar, side steps and checker plates.
MELVILL & MOON – Tan seat covers and spare tyre cover (to compliment the Britannia Blue vehicle colour), plus camping furniture.
NATIONAL LUNA / FLEXOPOWER – Fridge and mobile energy system.
LLUMAR – Protective film for the windscreen and tinted film for safari windows (heat and UV rays).
ALU-CAB – We wanted to preserve the safari windows, opting for the RT-2S over the full-length Gen 3-R rooftop tent; 270 Shadow Awning; Drawer System, Rear Door Drop-Down Table, molle plate with jerry can holders, table slide (fits securely under tent) and side mirror extensions.
Having spent the first quarter of this year building our Grenadier, I now also know that this process will never be complete. There will always be tinkering here and there; adding on, removing etc. and we can’t wait!
There is a huge global community of Grenadier owners on social media – sharing their experiences and after-market builds – which we will also use to prepare for future overlanding trips.
AfrikaBurn in the Tankwa Karoo was our debut in ‘Les Bleus’ in April, with future trips to Namibia and Gonarezhou National Park planned. One thing is certain, the rig is going to be quite the head-turner on our wedding day as the ‘Bride’s Ride’…