An advantage of being a car company in its infancy is that a nationwide lockdown won’t necessarily put the brakes on progress. INEOS Automotive, Jim Ratcliffe’s soon-to-be producer of the long-awaited Grenadier, had conveniently just completed the final exterior design for its 4x4 before the pandemic hit. It helped soften the blow of a workforce unable to return to HQ – to the extent that exterior design boss Paul Dodsworth reckons his team hasn't lost pace at all.
Not surprisingly, progress on INEOS’s yet-unfinished Bridgend factory has, however, taken a hit, but only slightly. The location, which is near to Ford’s soon-to-close engine plant, is using greenfield land, with good transport links and nearby suppliers, something that’ll obviously be key to getting Projekt Grenadier ready for production in 2021. We know much work has already been done on the car itself - it's said to be at pre-prod stage now - with winter testing having been completed before lockdown.
It certainly feels apt that a company intent on making the world’s most focussed 4x4 has been able to ride out a storm as hard-hitting as a global pandemic with such confidence. But don’t just take our word for it – see the in-house video INEOS has produced below. And look out for the bit where we almost get shown the car's front-end on a Zoom call...