I Was The Only Journalist At The Ineos North American HQ Grand Opening, Here’s What I Saw

Ineos is one of several startups that have managed to break into the U.S. market in recent years, but unlike other new carmakers (cough–Rivian, Lucid—cough), which have focused solely on electric vehicles and tech innovation, Ineos has gone in the opposite direction, building body-on-frame SUVs and pickup trucks with two solid axles and recirculating-ball steering boxes—equipment you’ll be hard-pressed to find on anything modern.

Those vehicles, the Grenadier Station Wagon and the Grenadier Quartermaster, have placed Ineos in a unique position in the U.S. market. I like to think of these things as highly elevated, far more refined versions of the Wrangler and the Gladiator, with much more interesting engines (all Ineos vehicles built so far use a turbocharged inline-six sourced from BMW). But they’re much more than that, as reviews from my colleagues David Tracy and Máté Petrány can attest. 

It’s been nearly two years since Ineos sold its first Grenadier in the United States, and according to the company, there are no signs of expansion slowing. It has over 30 dealers in the country, with plans to reach 40 locations by early next year. To keep the momentum, it just celebrated the launch of a new headquarters in northern New Jersey, about an hour outside New York City. I was there, and it was … different.

“Headquarters” Means One Office Floor And A Four-Car Garage

When I arrived before the event’s start time on Wednesday afternoon, there was already a crowd gathered outside what Ineos calls the “Brand Experience Center Pavilion,” a four-car garage on the property of its new office builing that Ineos plans to turn into a sort of micro-dealership, where people will be able to visit to sit in the Grenadier, speak with a representative, and go on test drives. Pretty cool, but also pretty weird—you don’t usually see automakers offering up demos at their corporate headquarters. I guess that’s just the nature of startup thinking.

When I say “office building,” I don’t mean the entire building. Ineos is still a tiny company by car manufacturer standards. Of the four floors, Ineos occupies only the second. But it seemed to take up around 70% of the parking surrounding the building (on this day, anyway).

Usually, when I go to these types of events, I expect to see a few familiar auto journalist faces. I know a lot of people in this industry who will never turn down an opportunity to eat free food from a carmaker. But to my surprise, the only press at this event were I and a single local news affiliate, who was there to find out how Ineos ended up in New Jersey (always a fair question).

“We’ve chosen New Jersey because it’s absolutely where all the talent is and all of our neighbors, the European OEMs, are all based in and around us,” Ineos president of the Americas George Ratcliffe told me, in case you were wondering. “So it’s the right place to be.”

He’s right about the other OEMs. Jaguar Land Rover’s HQ in Mahwah is just a 15-minute drive away. BMW North America is even closer, just a 10-minute drive south. Ferrari North America, meanwhile, is a 30-minute jaunt southeast. The office building Ineos calls home was actually built on the site of the former Mercedes-Benz headquarters. Mercedes has since moved to Georgia, but Jersey remains a hotbed for the automotive industry. So it makes sense that Ineos came here from Raleigh, where it was previously based, to better attract and retain talent.

After a few corporate speeches expounding on the excitement of the brand’s future in beautiful Montvale, Ineos execs held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the pavilion before whisking everyone inside. Sadly, I neglected to take photos of the office floor itself (bad journalism by me, I know, and I’m sorry), but it wasn’t terribly exciting. Picture an open floor plan circling the outside portions of the floor, with some meeting rooms in the middle. If you’ve ever been in an office space before, none of this will be groundbreaking to you. The only change made for the event was the addition of a long bar where people could get drinks.

I spent most of my time in one of those meeting rooms, talking to a few executives about what the future holds for Ineos. And according to them, there are some big plans in the pipeline.

Ineos Still Really Wants To Build Its Smaller Model, But It Can’t Commit Just Yet

Back in early 2024, Ineos revealed its long-awaited third model, the Fusilier. Like the Station Wagon and the Quartermaster, it sports a rugged, squared-off look and promises similar 4×4 capabilities. But it was to use an electric skateboard-style chassis, offered as a pure EV or with an optional gas-powered range extender. The Fusilier was also smaller in size, with Ineos promising a lower price point than the cheapest Grenadier (which currently starts at $72,600 including destination).

But just five months after the Fusilier was revealed, it was delayed indefinitely.

“We’re still completely committed to bringing it to market,” CEO Lynn Calder told me. “We love the car, we love the design […] The reason that it’s on pause is effectively because of European legislation at the moment.”

Right now, the EU still has a ban on gas-powered cars—even if the gas is used to charge a battery in an EREV—starting in 2035. Europe seems to be slowly realizing that’s an impossible goal, and is showing signs of reconsidering that ruling. Calder is confident the EU will make a pivot, and would rather it happen sooner than later, for obvious reasons.

“We, along with other OEMs, [are] just trying to use our maximum leverage to make sure that [legislators] listen, and make the change today, not wait until the last minute, because 2035 in Europe is in automotive years, [basically] tomorrow.”

Like Scout with its upcoming truck and SUV, Ineos has realized there isn’t a huge market for a pure EV in this space right now, so it’s prioritizing the Fusilier with the range extender first, when that car does eventually enter production.

“The range extender is just a really great stepping stone because it’s effectively, it is an electric vehicle because it’s got a big battery in it, but it doesn’t have the range anxiety because if you’re going to do a long trip in it, you can fill it up with gas, and that’s the blocker for people,” Calder says. “Nobody wants to sit and wait by the side of the road for three-quarters of an hour.”

That said, the company isn’t abandoning the pure electric Fusilier entirely.

“Customers will always want choice, and they will always want to buy combustion cars, which is why we thought that’s what we would launch first; the EV will follow,” says Ratcliffe. “It’s cost us a lot to make the decision to pull back on the EV because we had spent a lot of money on developing it, so it’s engineered and it’s developed. We just haven’t brought it to market yet, which would take a year to two years, depending on how quickly we get going.”

It’s A Matter Of When, Not If, Ineos Starts Building Cars In America

Ineos says 65% of its sales come from the Americas–not entirely surprising, given the size and nature of its rugged, off-road-focused vehicles. Shipping cars to the U.S. from its lone factory in France wasn’t really an issue until this year, when tariffs started biting into the company’s bottom line.

“The tariff, when we went into the year, was about 2.5%,” says Gregor Hembrough, executive vice president for Ineos in the Americas. “In April, we saw ourselves out 27.5% tariff. It was a tough time for the auto industry, and we actually had to take a look around and say, ‘How do we absorb these costs amongst three channels, customers, our great retail partners, and ourselves alike?’ We’ve all had to take a little bit of it. As we went into August, we saw the EU and Trump administration take an agreement, and we are now looking at 15% tariffs to alleviate [the costs] a little bit. But it’s far greater than we ever expected, as well.”

As a small automaker that relies on U.S. sales, tariffs are obviously something Ineos would like to avoid. Last month, Calder revealed the company was scouting locations for a plant in America.

“We’re making plans for it every day, to be honest,” she told me. “We’re talking to quite a number of U.S. states about what our options are [and] how quickly could we get here. We’re really excited about that as our future.”

The reason it hasn’t picked a spot to build Grenadiers in the U.S., ironically, leads back to the EU’s combustion ban weariness.

“I think [a U.S. production ramp-up is] possible quite quickly. It’s all linked to the same discussion,” says Calder. “We need to get clarity on Fusilier. If we get clarity on Fuselier from the [EU] government and they actually do it today, rather than in three years time, then we can develop the Fusilier, finish it, and we will absolutely commit to doing that.”

From there, all of the puzzle blocks will fall into place, according to her.

“We fill our factory in France with [the Fusilier], and we’ll bring the Grenadier here because it’s just the most efficient thing to do. Produce where you sell, not produce somewhere else and then bring it in. I think the Fusilier will be a big seller in Europe, so make that there, make the Grenadier here.”

Top graphic image: Brian Silvestro