Airplanes have controls above their windshield, so do big rigs. It looks cool, and I always wish more passenger cars would take advantage of overhead console space by sticking some switches up there. Apparently whoever designed the Ineos Grenadier’s interior agrees with me. Check this thing out!
The Ineos Grenadier is a Land Rover Defender knockoff concept and apparent brainchild of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. And yes, “Ineos” here is the same Ineos as the INEOS petrochemicals manufacturer (of which Ratcliffe is founder, chairman, and majority owner). The Grenadier has been floating around online for a couple of years now and it is still planned for a summer 2022 release according to company reps. At least one prototype has made its way to the United States already.
The vehicle’s popping up on your feed again today because of these newly released interior pictures. As it should be! It’s really great to see a vehicle cockpit designed with a sense of fun and whimsy rather than just another sea of piano black plastic and digital screens. The switches above the windshield, which appear to control off-road accessories, look particularly cool.
It’s so delightfully extra. Get a load of the hash marks and tabs around the hazard lights button, like it activates a damn missile. And the miniature scale diagram of the truck on the console; I did something similar in one of my own projects! The whole thing has a strong whiff of adventure cosplay and I’m 100 percent here for it. I wish more automakers were bold enough to get silly with their cockpits like this.
The BMW shifter looks jarringly out of place, but I’m having so much fun looking at the cute tactical-looking buttons elsewhere I’m willing to forgive it.
As for the Grenadier’s real-world production prospects, I’m not sure what the deal is beyond what’s been made in PR statements. Does a petrochemical company really think there’s money to be made building a passenger car out of the blue? Is this just a vanity project being indulged because why not? A stock-pumping scheme that will never materialize more than a few hardcopy vehicles? I’m looking at the Grenadier as a product with a lot of skepticism at this point and I suggest you do the same. But as a design exercise, hell yeah, I wish I could meet the folks who drew this truck up at the pub it’s named after and buy them all a round of beers.
