Area of interest producer Ineos Automotive is leveraging its private method to customer support and a slowly increasing help community to transform Australia’s rusted-on Toyota LandCruiser 70 Collection loyalists.
Shaped after Land Rover wouldn’t promote the tooling and manufacturing {hardware} for the unique Land Rover Defender to British billionaire and chemical engineer, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos Automotive at present gives SUV and ute variations of the Grenadier 4×4, each of which compete instantly with the 70 Collection.
Nevertheless, Toyota holds a dominant place within the native market, with the 70 Collection racking up 10,301 gross sales in ute guise alone final yr – hundreds greater than the following hottest heavy-duty ladder-frame off-roader. Ineos, in the meantime, has averaged roughly 1000 gross sales per yr since launching Down Below in 2022.
That vast discrepancy could be chalked all the way down to a number of components, together with Toyota’s broadly recognised model, its sprawling community of roughly 300 sellers, and the LandCruiser’s long-held fame for reliability and mechanical simplicity.
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As such, with simply 26 sellers, a reputation nonetheless unfamiliar to many patrons, and a product that is but to reveal its long-term sturdiness, Ineos could be very a lot caught in a David vs Goliath battle to seize market share from its Japanese rival.
However reasonably than draw back from the problem, Ineos is embracing and even exploiting its underdog standing, in keeping with native boss Justin Hocevar.
“What we simply need to do as a crew is make it possible for we’re on our A-game on a regular basis with reference to supporting clients wherever they’re,” Mr Hocevar instructed CarExpert on the launch of the mannequin yr 2026 (MY26) Grenadier.
“We have some tales of people that’ve had one thing occur – one thing’s damaged, or they’ve damaged one thing – in actually distant places, and we have been in a position to snap to consideration, transfer heaven and earth to get a component to them faster than I’d say the standardised processes of a giant company might do.
“After which it is about giving them the best tech help and making the best individuals accessible as properly – if anyone who would not actually know the automobile that properly has the power to attach with somebody who does – even when that is just about – then we are able to actually assist.
“They’re the situations, once they come up, that give us a possibility to reveal that even with out the dimensions and may of a giant participant like Toyota, you’ll be able to truly react actually, actually shortly with trendy logistics.”
That is to not say Ineos is not seeking to improve its bodily presence in Australia.
Relatively, the marque has plans to collaborate with impartial garages to enhance its attain, significantly in regional Australia. This program would see far-flung workshops tackle inventory of Ineos components, in addition to obtain coaching from the manufacturing facility with the intention to present servicing and repairs.
A small bump in dealership numbers can also be on the playing cards for 2026, after the community briefly shrunk final yr attributable to Ineos’ shift away from an company gross sales mannequin.
“We’ve got to maintain constructing that community out as properly, as a result of on the finish of the day, the extra service places in the best places, the higher. The problem in doing that for us is our measurement,” mentioned Mr Hocevar.
“We will solely help so many retailers. There is no level getting a seller in a distant location to decide to all the prices related to having a franchise solely to have low throughput there. That is the problem.
“I believe you may see us concentrate on having stronger gross sales and repair shops, not essentially pushing for extra of these, however augmenting our community with some service-only companions.”
Additional methods have been mapped out to sweeten the Ineos possession promise, though they continue to be below wraps in the interim.
“We have a number of extra issues up our sleeve that may come… we’ll make some bulletins all through this yr round another issues that we’ll do to assist help clients,” Mr Hocevar mentioned.
Earlier makes an attempt by Ineos to broaden its viewers embrace the 2025 “Love It or Depart It” marketing campaign, which gave potential house owners the choice to ‘promote’ their Grenadier Quartermaster ute again to Ineos inside six months/15,000km of shopping for the automobile.
