When the British startup INEOS Automotive decided to target the North American market for its all-new Grenadier off-road SUV, it chose to follow the traditional franchised dealership model rather than experiment with an untested direct-to-consumer sales model.

For nearly three years, Greg Clark, INEOS Automotive's executive vice president for the Americas, has been building up the North American network of dealerships. INEOS vetted more than 150 different dealership groups before settling on the current 21 "launch dealers" for the Grenadier's launch, Clark said Feb. 1 during a Live Stage session at NADA Show 2024. That number is likely to rise as INEOS fills roughly 9,000 outstanding orders for the Grenadier.

INEOS wanted its customers to have "the full dealership experience" of sales, service, support, aftermarket and even community-building, Clark said. INEOS sought dealers in certain geographic locations, certainly, but it wanted mature partners with experience across many different franchises. Importantly, its dealers would need "the bandwidth to dedicate to a new startup," Clark said.

"Primarily, we have chosen the dealership franchise model because of speed to market, but also because I think OEMs generally underestimate the heavy lifting that it takes to actually serve the customer, not just at the point of sale but over the course of the lifetime of the vehicle," Clark said.

"That partnership between OEM and dealers is perfectly logical for us as a brand-new entrant ... a brand that is not a household name by any stretch of the imagination."  

"The equity and the support that our dealer partners bring to this is not to be underestimated," Clark added. "These are very well known names in each of their communities. We've had the luxury of being able to go out and technically hand-pick each of our franchise partners across the U.S. and Canada."

Clark said INEOS picked dealers who would be able to ensure a unique buying experience for customers.

"A dedicated experience from a sales and service perspective is very important," Clark said. "It's important for us, as well as it's important for other brands, to make sure that they have focus from their dealer partners on those franchises."

INEOS commenced its North American deliveries around Thanksgiving 2023, delivering more than 1,000 Grenadiers to customers since then. It has also delivered more than 1,300 units to its dealers, and "the response has been phenomenal so far," Clark said.

The focus for 2024 will be to deliver the 9,000 units that were pre-ordered, and continue growing the dealership network, Clark said.

"We are going to grow gradually, steadily, as we make sure that we've proven out all of our systems and processes, and we have the production capacity to feed these dealers," Clark said.

The Grenadier is a traditional body-on-frame 4x4 that resembles the older Land Rover Defender. It has a choice of BMW engines (gas or diesel), and a starting price of $71,500. INEOS is developing a pickup truck version of the Grenadier, as well as electrified powertrains for future sale.