Off-road Ineos Grenadier will be auto only

Ineos has revealed a raft of technical details for its not-a-Land-Rover-Defender Grenadier off-roader. For hardcore 4×4 enthusiasts, the biggest news is that there will be no manual transmission offered.

The new British all-terrain vehicle (engineered by Magna in Austria and likely to be built in France) will feature a ZF eight-speed auto.

“We’ve reviewed all the options and we believe that the auto is the best option. It offers the full suite of functionality for experienced drivers and also for inexperienced drivers,” says Engineering Project Manager Job Zwollo.

On the plus side, even though the Grenadier will be a two-pedal machine, the transmission can also be shifted by the driver and will feature permanent four-wheel drive with a selectable low-ratio and differential lock, thanks to a bespoke transfer case developed by Magna.

The transmission will be mated to a 3.0-liter BMW six-cylinder turbo in gas or diesel guise, calibrated for use in the Grenadier.

Ineos is currently building 100 prototypes for testing all over the world and has already completed over one million miles of development driving.

The Grenadier is still more than a year away from going in to mass production, but it’s reassuring to see just how much testing is going in to making this potentially the world’s most capable off-roader.

You can find out more about the Grenadier’s powertrain and watch it in action in the video below.