The new Grenadier off-roader from British chemical substances big Ineos might find yourself being constructed at the Daimler-owned plant in Hambach, France, at the moment answerable for the Smart Fortwo minicar.
With future Smarts to be constructed in China by a three way partnership between Daimler and Geely, Daimler mentioned final week the Hambach plant, which employs 1,600 employees, will probably be put up on the market to cut back capability in Europe.
Ineos in a press release Tuesday mentioned it’s among the many events in talks to purchase the positioning.
Smart plant in Hambach, France
Ineos deliberate to build its personal plant in Bridgend, Wales, for the Grenadier, in addition to a separate web site in Estarreja, Portugal, devoted to chassis and physique manufacturing. However, in its assertion, the corporate mentioned it suspended work at each websites pending the end result of talks with Daimler over the way forward for the Hambach plant.
Ineos revealed the Grenadier earlier in July. The automobile is a rugged, body-on-frame design with each SUV and pickup truck physique kinds deliberate. Prototypes are at the moment testing forward of a focused begin of manufacturing in late 2021.
For Ineos, the goal is to promote the automobile worldwide, which implies we may doubtlessly see it in the United States. The firm has mentioned pricing will rely upon what number of orders it secures however has hinted at a beginning value of lower than $65,000.
