Ineos Automotive is closing the year with a few changes to its top management team. The company has announced that it will appoint a new CEO and a new COO as the automaker transitions from an engineering project to a commercial business.
Ineos Automotive, part of Ineos Group, was formed in 2017 to design and build a utilitarian off-road vehicle that would become the Grenadier. The SUV finally entered production in October after facing supply chain issues that affected the entire auto industry. With the Grenadier now rolling off the assembly line, Ineos Automotive will have new management to lead the way.
Gallery: Ineos Grenadier start of production
Lynn Calder will become the new CEO, assuming the role effective immediately. Hans-Peter Pessler will become the company’s new COO, formerly serving as a senior executive at Austria’s Magna Steyr. Phillippe Steyer will remain as the firm’s president.
Calder joins Ineos Automotive after spending six years in various positions within Ineos Group, including multiple CEO roles. She has previous experience in private equity. Calder said that “it’s an exciting time” to take the reins of Ineos, praising the team for all its hard work while noting that “we’re still only at the beginning of creating a global business.”
The Grenadier could come to the US, featuring the BMW-sourced B58 twin-turbocharged inline-six engine. It produces 281 horsepower (210 kilowatts) and 332 pound-feet (450 Newton-meters) of torque. The diesel version won’t arrive in the US, but it will be available in Europe and make 245 hp (193 kW) and 406 lb-ft (550 Nm) of torque. The order books are open for the SUV.
It’s unclear what the future holds for Ineos now that the Grenadier is in production, but we have an idea. The automaker is developing a fuel-cell electric vehicle version of the SUV, and testing was supposed to start by the end of 2022. Hydrogen continues to garner interest from automakers, big and small, even as they push headlong into developing new battery-electric vehicles for the masses.
