
SA Auto Week to take place in Eastern Cape during October
Despite potential headwinds, South Africa’s automotive industry remains committed to long-term growth and resilience.
- Industry News
- 2 April 2025
The INEOS Group, created by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will soon build three models at its Hambach manufacturing facility in Germany.
The group this week confirmed that it will add a fully electric 4x4 to its range. The model will not simply be a revised version of the current INEOS, but will sit on its own, slightly smaller, platform. The platform will be derived from the original Grenadier platform.
According to INEOS, the new model will retain the hard-working ethos of the Grenadier and will be built at the same factory as the Grenadier and the soon-to-be-launched Grenadier pick-up.
The company also confirmed that it’s backing hydrogen as the long-term solution for clean energy and that it will soon start testing this technology in the Grenadier.
In South Africa, the INEOS business is run by Tim Abbott, the previous CEO of BMW in the country. Abbott handed over the keys of BMW in 2020, and he now runs INEOS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Abbott recently confirmed to Dealerfloor that it has partnered with the SMH Group to create dealers in Johannesburg and Pretoria and with SMG in Cape Town and Durban. The order book for the five-door Grenadier opened on 18 May this year, and INEOS has confirmed that the first deliveries will take place in October.
The first Grenadier to land in SA will be powered by the choice of a six-cylinder BMW-sourced engine in either petrol or diesel. Pricing is expected to start at R1 395 000.
Despite potential headwinds, South Africa’s automotive industry remains committed to long-term growth and resilience.
South African consumers demonstrated a strong appetite for new passenger vehicles in March, according to figures released by the Automotive Business Council (naamsa).
Just a few days after its official introduction to the South African market, the TopGear SA team, in a convoy of Nissan Navara Warriors, has embarked on a record-breaking expedition into South Africa’s most extreme hinterland.