Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s car company has been forced to halt production as the supplier of a crucial component used in its vehicles battles possible bankruptcy.
Ineos Automotive, part of the billionaire’s chemicals empire, said it had temporarily stopped making Grenadier SUVs and Quartermaster pickup trucks at its factory in Hambach, France, due to a “critical component shortage”.
Lynn Calder, chief executive, said the holdup was due to the supplier of the crucial car parts facing a “pre-insolvency situation”.
“It’s a trim part but one that we can’t sell the car without,” she told Automotive News Europe.
The company has not identified the part and Ms Calder declined to name the supplier. But production might not resume until late this year or early 2025, she warned.
“I know that the [supplier] is working really hard to try and turn around their business and I want to give them every opportunity to do that,” she said. The delays are a major blow to the company, which has just put the Quartermaster on sale in Europe.
Ineos Automotive’s core model, the Land Rover-inspired Grenadier, has been in production since 2022.
A spokesman said: “Our production at Hambach has encountered a critical component shortage beyond our control, causing a pause in our production schedule.
“Automotive supply chains are always complex and challenging, but this hits at such a busy time for us. We are leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to get our manufacturing back up and running, to catch up with demand as swiftly as we can.
“At the moment, we are operating a conservative scenario which would see us get back to full production rates in early 2025.
“In the meantime, we would like to thank our customers – in particular those waiting for their Grenadiers – for their patience as we work hard to get back to business.”
The Grenadier was the brainchild of Sir Jim, who had the idea in a London pub of the same name. It kept the rugged outlines of the Defender, which halted production in the UK in 2016 but was later relaunched – albeit in more upmarket form – by Jaguar Land Rover in 2019.
The Grenadier was initially going to be made in Bridgend, south Wales, but the company was able to purchase a ready-made factory in France from Mercedes, which gave it better access to suppliers.
A company spokesman said the vehicle was getting “great feedback from customers around the world” and was on sale in more than 45 countries, with China and Mexico to follow this month.
Ineos Automotive, which was launched by Sir Jim in 2016, is on track to have cumulatively sold more than 20,000 cars by the end of this year.
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