The unique British off-road brand could still go electric despite continuing delays with the Fusilier EV.
Electric Cars
Growing emissions concerns could restart the electric Ineos Fusilier project that has been on hold for the past year.
Speaking on the brand’s plan in Australia to stay under the maximum fleet emissions rating with the New Vehicles Emissions Standard (NVES) introduced this year, Justin Hocevar, Regional Director of Ineos Asia-Pacific, alluded to the Fusilier project being restarted.
“Eventually, we will play again on Fusilier. That project was never cancelled; it was only ever paused, so it will be reinitiated, and when we launch that, that's going to give us access to our own carbon credits,” said Hocevar.
In 2024, Fusilier was put on hold indefinitely due to waning customer demand and uncertainty surrounding UK legislation for electric vehicles, according to the car maker. Ineos cited falling demand for electric vehicles and constantly changing regulations as the reasons for the hold.
When Drive recently questioned Hocevar about the hold, he simply replied, “Well, from a public point of view, it's on pause.”
The electric Ineos was to be the first of its kind to use a new ‘skateboard’ platform enabling both a battery-electric powertrain as well as a petrol-electric range-extender plug-in hybrid version, developed by Austrian company Magna.
Sizing was also set to be around the same size as a Jeep Wrangler – at 4856mm long and 1930mm wide – with similarly rugged styling as the Grenadier, but with softer edges.
However, with the setbacks, it’s likely the car will not be seen by its 2027 original release date – instead, it will be 2029 or beyond which could hinder Ineos with emissions regulations.
Manufacturers in Australia have been given until 2028 to sort their emissions out for NVES before they start paying fines. Still, they can begin to accrue carbon credits, either by purchasing them or generating them from their fleet, from 2026.
Ineos is initially exempt from penalties due to its Grenadier and Quatermaster having over a 3.5 tonne GVM, putting it into the MB1 category (a medium and goods vehicle) and the same category that allows them to skirt AEB laws.
“The timing of NVES introduction for us is delayed because we're an MB1 category vehicle. And secondly, when it does come in, there's the 3.5 towing ladder frame rule that provides for a higher level of output, emissions output, versus the rest of the market. So, with that delay, that means that we won't be exposed to having to pass on that sort of balance to end users until we start being hit with it.”
Falling into that larger category could win Ineos just enough time to bring the Fusilier to life and actually skirt any emission penalties. But if push does come to shove, Hocevar says the brand won’t look past purchasing credits depending on what the market is doing.
“[We will look at] what credits are we going to be able to buy from the open market and what the transactional price of those credits will be.”
“I’ll use New Zealand as a classic example, I think when they launched their emission scheme, the government set or proposed the market rate for the CO2 credits at around $NZD40 to 44 per credit. But in reality, we were able to buy credits from other OEMs that had, and the transactional value was a fraction of the price.”
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Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
