INEOS Automotive Resolves Grenadier and Quartermaster Critical Supply Chain Hurdle

Believed to be linked with Recaro's insolvency, production of the INEOS Grenadier sport utility vehicle and Quartermaster pickup truck had to be halted in September 2024 due to a shortage of parts. What parts, only the British automaker knows for certain. Be that as it may, Recaro is the only supplier we can think of in this particular context.

Sources close to the automaker made it clear that said production halt was caused by a crucial trim part. Seats fit said crucial trim part description. Recaro's downfall can be traced back to 2020, when a Michigan-based private equity firm acquired the company from Johnson Controls subsidiary Adient.

As per a statement released by Recaro Automotive GmbH in July 2024, the loss of a big contract and financial difficulties caused by extreme price increases led to the aforementioned insolvency. Under the control of Raven Acquisitions LLC since January 2020, it's not clear what financial and business decisions led to Recaro's bankruptcy.

Turning our attention back to INEOS Automotive, a recent press release from the Brits reveals that Grenadier and Quartermaster production will resume sooner than originally expected. January 2025 is when the former smart GmbH factory in Hambach, France will restart the assembly line where the body-on-frame off-road vehicles come to life.

Lynn Calder, the chief exec of INEOS Automotive, did not give any names. Instead, she declared that "we were not willing to compromise on quality, so we are satisfied that we have found the best possible outcome."

Finding a new supplier of automotive seats is especially hard in this industry, more so when accounting for safety performance and the integration of said new seats with the existing restraint system. We also have to remember that companies that specialize in the production of automotive seats have plenty of customers and huge orders to fulfill, which makes it even harder to cater to the needs of new customers. In this case, a customer that produces way fewer vehicles than legacy mass-market automakers (think VW) do.

Greatly inspired by the body-on-frame predecessor of the Land Rover Defender, the Grenadier is a mid-size utility vehicle with BMW muscle and eight speeds of torque-converter automatic from ZF Friedrichshafen. Production kicked off in 2022 for the 2023 model year, with prospective customers presented with either gas or diesel power.

Originally intended to be manufactured in Wales, the Grenadier was masterminded by INEOS big kahuna Jim Ratcliffe. In the first instance, Ratcliffe approached Jaguar Land Rover with the intent of purchasing the IP and tooling of the body-on-frame Defender.

With JLR declining the well-to-do businessman, he initiated the Grenadier project. July 2023 saw the introduction of the Quartermaster, a Grenadier derivative with a stretched wheelbase and a truck bed. The Quartermaster for the US market is subject to the 25-percent import tariff known as the Chicken Tax, which dates back to 1964 and the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration.