South Africa is set to have yet another double cab bakkie option with the announcement that order books for the new INEOS Grenadier Quartermaster open in August.
Set to make its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Quartermaster shares much of its architecture and components of the ladder frame chassis Station Wagon.
It’s 305mm longer allowing for a 1.564m long and 1.619m wide loadbay that they say is large enough to carry a standard Euro pallet.
The Collins dictionary describes a Quartermaster as an officer responsible for accommodation, food and equipment in a military unit or a rating in the navy, usually a petty officer, with particular responsibility for steering a ship and other navigational duties.
It’s powered by the same BMW 3.0-litre turbocharged inline six cylinder petrol or diesel engine with 210kW and 450Nm or 182kW and 550Nm respectively coupled to an eight-speed ZF gearbox.
Standard it comes with a centre differential lock and a two speed transfer case with optional front and rear lockers and like its sibling has the same heavy duty five-link front and rear suspension, Carraro solid beam axles, Brembo brakes, 264mm of ground clearance and 800mm wading depth.
Payload is said to be 760kg with a towing capacity of 3,500kg. The loadbay is fitted with four tie-down rings with optional utility rails, a 400W inverter, an integrated mounting bar and a 1.28m tailgate that can support 225kg when open.
Potential owners will have a wide range of accessories to customise their bakkies such as the cargo bay fitted with a frame and waterproof canvas canopy, a lockable roller cover and a roof rack.
The model line-up will mirror that of the Station Wagon and is available in standard, Trialmaster and Fieldmaster trim.
Local pricing will be released when order books open on 1 August but expect it to start from about R1.6 million based on the current pricing of the Station Wagon.
Also making its debut at Goodwood is the hydrogen fuelled Grenadier Demonstrator.
It’s identical to the production Grenadier apart from a bonnet power bulge to accommodate the additional height of the fuel cell, but this will not be present in a production model.
INEOS partnered with Austrian engineering supplier/powertrain consultancy, AVL, to develop the Demonstrator and uses BMW Group’s latest hydrogen fuel cell, zero-emissions powertrain.
They modified the ladder frame and rear axle to accommodate the electric drive units to deliver true torque vectoring drive control to each rear wheel. The capabilities of torque vectoring result in what INEOS calls ‘gecko capability’ - providing control and manoeuvrability in all off-road conditions, as well as a tighter turning circle and enhanced on-road driving dynamics.
According to the company the Demonstrator has undergone rigorous testing to ensure there has been no compromise to its on and off-road capabilities or towing capacities.
Like the other versions of the Grenadier, it has conquered the notorious trails of the Austrian mountains and the various off-road challenges around Graz.
IOL Motoring