The Brit at the Korean motor show: a closer look at the Grenadier Fieldmaster from Busan

© A. Krivonosov

The line between an off-roader and a piece of architecture almost disappears here. Upright pillars, flat glass, four round headlights in a horizontal grille, a sandwich-style body with rubber strips and rivets — the Ineos Grenadier Station Wagon in Five-Seat Fieldmaster Edition trim stands on the Chabot Motors stand at the BEXCO complex as if it had been brought not from the production line but from a British army technical catalogue of the mid-twentieth century. And it does so wearing a badge that promises 286 hp and a BMW under the bonnet.

On 26 June 2026 the Busan International Mobility Show opened in Busan — a Korean biennial that used to be called Motor Show and since 2024 has carried the broader «Mobility» banner. Next door to the British are BYD with a wall-wide light installation, Hyundai and Korean urban-air-mobility start-ups. Against that background the Grenadier looks like a visitor from another world, and that, in essence, is what it is selling in Korea.

Fieldmaster is the middle of the three «suits» in which Ineos dresses its off-roader. The name and the philosophy come from the cult Belstaff Fieldmaster waxed jacket, and one of those jackets, incidentally, is included with the car. In spirit, this is the version for people who go not to win a trophy raid but to spend a weekend off the tarmac: with creature comforts, heated Recaro leather seats, fabric mats and removable Safari Windows in the roof above the front row. You can see them in the side view — two rectangular hatches above the driver and front passenger; in the heat they lift up, in really good weather they come off completely and are stowed in a dedicated bag.

The dimensions are strict: length 4895 mm, height more than two metres, wheelbase 2922 mm. Ground clearance — 264 mm, approach angle 35.5°, departure 36.1°. Maximum wading depth — 800 mm, thanks to the high-mounted air intake. The spare wheel sits on the tailgate — in the rear shot it carries a branded decorative cover with a propeller motif (a nod to aviation styling). A signature touch at the back: round tail lamps in metal rims, also styled after old aircraft instruments.

Under the bonnet sits BMW’s B58, a 3.0-litre inline-six with turbocharging. According to the Korean spec plate — 286 hp at 4750 rpm and 450 N·m of torque between 1750–4000 rpm (in North American Ineos materials the same engine is listed as 282 hp and 332 lb-ft — the same unit in different units and with different homologation). The gearbox is the familiar ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic. Drive is permanent all-wheel, the low-range ratio is 2.5:1, the centre differential lock is standard; the front and rear differentials cost extra in the Rough Pack.

Suspension front and rear is five-link coil-sprung on solid axles. The frame is a ladder, designed by Magna.

For the 2026 model year Ineos has made its main change to the steering: a new box with a variable ratio. Around the straight-ahead position the wheel becomes sharper and more precise — the company promises confident tracking on the motorway and more legible behaviour during lane changes. The turning circle has shrunk by about five per cent and is now 13.5 m — for a car with an almost three-metre wheelbase and serious mass this is still no Mini, but for town use it matters.

The Grenadier’s cabin is a separate attraction. Inside, it doesn’t try to mimic German premium: there are exposed screws, toggle switches in the overhead panel, low-range and locker controls as separate levers next to the automatic’s shifter. A single central screen, no instrument cluster — the speedometer and tachometer have moved into the top section of the touchscreen, with a wide block of physical buttons and dials for climate and vehicle systems below. The logic is obvious: nobody is going to stab away at submenu icons in gloves with muddy hands.

The Korean market is a story of its own for Grenadier. Here the car is sold by Chabot Motors, a subsidiary of Chabot Mobility. Direct rivals in the same niche barely exist: the new Land Rover Defender looks completely different, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class lives in another price bracket, and the Jeep Wrangler is more about emotion than about engineering stubbornness. The Grenadier, by contrast, is a deliberate attempt to build «the old Defender that never existed»: with modern electrics, a BMW engine, a ZF transmission, Carraro axles and no regard for digital fashion. In Busan that concept reads especially clearly — against halls in which half the cars speak the language of kWh.

The car on the stand is shown with the brand’s 17-inch wheels, Bridgestone Dueler tyres, a deployable side step and the characteristic tailgate with the spare-wheel mount. Chabot has not put specific Korean prices on a plate, and no official open source publishes the figures — for terms, you are directed to a showroom.