Success Comes at a Price for Ineos’ Grenadier 4×4
Ineos, the British chemicals and automotive company, has been forced to take drastic action after buyers began to hawk their Grenadier 4×4 vehicle at mammoth resale prices amid production delays.
Those seeking to buy a brand-new Grenadier straight from the manufacturer will have to wait a staggering 12 months for delivery – and stump up £65,000 for the privilege.
And that has given rise to an opportunity for shrewd operators to thrive…
Who are Ineos?
Founded by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos is a British company that owns a huge slice of the global chemicals industry.
They have since diversified into other areas including automotive retail, while the brand also lends its name to a cycling team that contests the annual Grand Tours.
Ineos hasn’t quite had as much success as its predecessor, Team Sky, who won the Tour de France five times between 2012 and 2018. The cycling odds give Ineos riders an outside chance to win the gruelling French race, with more familiar names like Jonas Vingegaard instead favoured in the Tour de France betting.
https://twitter.com/j_vingegaard/status/1551593913575669765
It’s the firm’s Grenadier 4×4, which has been championed by the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, that has generated most of the column inches for the company of late. Considered an alternative to Land Rover and similar-sized vehicles, popularity has boomed – at a cost to would-be buyers.
So some have bitten the bullet and instead purchased a ‘nearly new’ model from a reseller, who have bought up stock from independent dealers with low delivery mileage.
An Ineos spokesperson has confirmed that they will limit the supply of new Grenadiers to retailers that adopt a similar resale strategy, with orders already cancelled where it was found that the buyer had the sole aim of immediately listing their vehicle for sale upon delivery for a handsome mark-up.
It’s another source of frustration for motorists, with the sale price of used cars increasing by an average of £4,000 since 2020.
Who is Jim Ratcliffe?
Billionaires don’t have to worry about such things as second-hand cars – they don’t come much richer in the UK than Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Having made his money via his Ineos chemicals firm and its many subsidiaries, Ratcliffe has diversified his portfolio into automotive and sport.
As well as the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, he is the majority shareholder in the French football club Nice, although he is yet to experience the kind of success there that his investment – bringing in the likes of Kasper Schmeichel and Ross Barkley – might have warranted.
Jim Ratcliffe has big plans for Manchester United, and the British billionaire isn't backing down in the face of Qatar's money https://t.co/odvBhydAs0
— Bloomberg (@business) July 18, 2023
So Ratcliffe has a new target in his crosshairs: Manchester United. Although his is a sporting interest given that he grew up supporting the Old Trafford club, a shrewd businessman like Ratcliffe will know that United, as a publicly listed and globally popular concern, also offer the potential for huge profits. Indeed, they posted revenue of around £540 million in 2022 alone.
Whether he can bring them more success on the pitch remains to be seen, but Ratcliffe’s returns in petrochemicals and automobiles suggest he knows how to get the very best out of his investments.
Image Credit: Alexander Migl, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
