A new interview with Calder

[TCMColorado]

Okay, so it is a fluff interview. It does not justify the level of vitriol in this thread. Calder has already addressed many of the concerning topics during her current media tour. Seriously, the criticism is misplaced. Let's not turn this forum into X or 4chan.

 

[carlg007]

Okay, so it is a fluff interview. It does not justify the level of vitriol in this thread. Calder has already addressed many of the concerning topics during her current media tour. Seriously, the criticism is misplaced. Let's not turn this forum into X or 4chan.

I think what you are seeing is a lot of frustrated customers with a lot of unanswered and or unresolved problems and promises! With just one small example, I can't even reset my service indicator!!!

 

[HereinDaRockies]

Okay, so it is a fluff interview. It does not justify the level of vitriol in this thread. Calder has already addressed many of the concerning topics during her current media tour. Seriously, the criticism is misplaced. Let's not turn this forum into X or 4chan.

Addressed MANY concerns? No she didn’t.. only mentioned Adas issue in passing in an earlier interview. If I missed the others, please point them out.

Then she and this cuck Brady does this cringe fluff piece of ineos’s company culture and building a safari vehicle for Jim Radcliffe as a birthday surprise.. lol what are we doing here? No one cares about the company and its people.. just build good differentiated stuff and we will give you our money. It’s purely transactional.

 

[Zimm]

I recall when Scott first put out "white papers" on truck reviews, and praised the capability of the Jeep Compass, or whatever that turd was. I gave it the "spock" hairy eyeball. But, that was over 2 decades ago. Clearly he knows 20x what he knew then. He frigging turned being an overland personality into a good living. Personally I wish I'da thought of that. I always just figured the best one could do is be the 4x4 version of a ski instructor, and die poor. Always bet against me. (PSU cost me 2g last week, I'm tellin' ya, it was a lock, man.) I'd gladly trade my world for his, Rick Steves, or Anthony Bourdain's (the version not hanging in a closet). Scott really really could give some in depth astute assessments of the weak and strong points of a truck if he wanted, he just never has. When OJ first came I posted about the lack of "negative" comments and his editor clearly stated they would only say nice things or nothing at all. I guess thats great for getting along bridge club, but dissapointing for an interview.

 

[mcdoogs]

- she feels 2025 is a year for Ineos to grow up like a mature oem and less like a start up

I really, really dislike this corporate conceit. You are a new-ish business vertical of an existing company with roughly $60B annual revenue.

Ratcliffe and the Ineos board are not angel investors, you the CEO are not seeking new rounds of funding annuallly, you are not a start up. "We are like a startup" is always just used as an excuse to cut corners and be sloppy and/or lower expectations from my experience inside massive corporations and their new business verticals.

 

[Lars]

Okay, so it is a fluff interview. It does not justify the level of vitriol in this thread. Calder has already addressed many of the concerning topics during her current media tour. Seriously, the criticism is misplaced. Let's not turn this forum into X or 4chan.

No vitriol, just observation and opinion. I think I expected more from Brady...he does have street cred. I would expect an interview more like Robert Pepper's L2SFBC YouTube channel did with the Austrailan Exec. It's possible after that Ineos PR said "Never again".

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hq6OQceIMo

 

[HereinDaRockies]

I really, really dislike this corporate conceit. You are a new-ish business vertical of an existing company with roughly $60B annual revenue.

Ratcliffe and the Ineos board are not angel investors, you the CEO are not seeking new rounds of funding annuallly, you are not a start up. "We are like a startup" is always just used as an excuse to cut corners and be sloppy and/or lower expectations from my experience inside massive corporations and their new business verticals.

But the parent company is in the oil and chemicals business. They have no clue and tons of unknown unknowns, I am sure. CEO has no automotive background either

 

[mcdoogs]

But the parent company is in the oil and chemicals business. They have no clue and tons of unknown unknowns, I am sure. CEO has no automotive background either

That's pretty irrelevant to the point though. They had the funding to hire experts in every critical role, buy a factory and the tooling needed, contract with automotive giants like Magna Steyr, build a global logistic chain including dealer network, run a worldwide marketing campaign (which btw almost certainly leveraged Ineos' existing marketing capabilities), etc.

Actual 'startup' companies do not have that kind of umbrella of safety and financial runway. They also don't have access to shared resources like HR, sales, marketing departments like Ineos does. They need to secure funding generally by selling ownership in the company, which also doesnt apply to a business vertical. Lack of in house automotive knowledge was about the easiest challenge to overcome compared to all the rest, and being a part of the Ineos corporation means it was actually feasible. They are hundreds of miles away from being a startup.

 

[Zimm]

That's pretty irrelevant to the point though. They had the funding to hire experts in every critical role, buy a factory and the tooling needed, contract with automotive giants like Magna Steyr, build a global logistic chain including dealer network, run a worldwide marketing campaign (which btw almost certainly leveraged Ineos' existing marketing capabilities), etc.

Actual 'startup' companies do not have that kind of umbrella of safety and financial runway. Lack of in house automotive knowledge was about the easiest challenge to overcome compared to all the rest, and being a part of the Ineos corporation means it was actually feasible. They are hundreds of miles away from being a startup.

They are like a startup, in that they are run as a cult of personality. The pleasing of the leader and the lack of market forces driving the design and funding may be an immediate blessing for papering over any unappealing shortcomings, but in the long run, it will be a curse as the company bullheadedly sticks to designs and applications that displeases actual customers. Besides, some tech startups had incredible funding. When Musk bought Tesla, he had a few billion. Unlike Tesla though, the US taxpayer isn't going to bail out the grift with rebates and credit sales, so Methinks this startup better start shifting gears, quickly. Just a personal conclusion.

 

[holdmybeer]

I'm an old guy from the tech industry so YMMV but IMO the "startup" label is appropriate if a company has not yet validated its business model at scale. Regardless of level of funding.

So a startup may have received hundreds of millions in funding (VC or private/insiders or public market IPO) and IF it's not clear yet whether the business is long-term viable then I'd still call it a startup. It needs to be fed cash while it figures things out. I'd call Ineos Automotive a startup for sure.

A startup is still figuring out its initial product line, figuring out its customers (how to retain, how to attract), supply chain, and achieving profitability. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions may be poured into the venture. And the investors feeding the startup before it has genuine long term viability will usually have board representation and final say over everything and anything if they want to flex that way. So personal bias and subjective decision making by preferred investors is common. The guys with the gold make the rules at this stage. Not the market (though they should probably listen to it), and not customers (thought they should probably listen to them).

If a startup has been at it for 10 years and it's still sucking from its mother's breast ... well, I dunno, then you could just call it a passion project. Or a charity, lol. But before then it will probably be shuttered and investors will move on or sell it off to private equity for liquidation. Fingers crossed for Ineos Automotive!

 

[Scott_Brady]

Scott Brady is too much of a Grenadier "fan-boy" to give an honest, tough and thorough interview. His praise for the Grenadier he used in Africa was using a pre-production model that probably did not have any of the electronics, save the engine and transmission computers, as all of ours.
The fact that he disabled YouTube comments says it all. He knew it was a puff-piece.

I wanted to see what this forum was all about and had the pleasure of reading this comment first...

It does appear comments are disabled on that video, but not on our account. It is completely greyed out in our option set and I cannot turn them on (I also had no idea they were disabled until reading this), which can be caused by the following issues according to Google.

"Learn why comments are turned off
You may see "Comments are turned off." Here’s why:

You’ve selected the setting to "Disable comments."
YouTube may have turned off comments on some content for safety reasons, like to protect minors or for other safety issues. Learn more about our Community Guidelines.
Your channel or video’s audience is set as "made for kids." Learn more about this setting.
Comments on automatically generated Art Tracks are turned off if the primary artist doesn't have an Official Artist Channel. Learn more about Art Tracks.
You’ve shared a video in a post, and the video’s comments have been turned off either by the creator or YouTube. Learn more about posts."

So there is no confusion, I have received zero compensation from Ineos, and have in fact spent tens of thousands of dollars testing their vehicles on my own dime. We test every vehicle manufacturer's cars in remote areas of the world, including taking a Land Cruiser to all seven continents (also not sponsored by Toyota).

 

[Lars]

I wanted to see what this forum was all about and had the pleasure of reading this comment first...

It does appear comments are disabled on that video, but not on our account. It is completely greyed out in our option set and I cannot turn them on (I also had no idea they were disabled until reading this), which can be caused by the following issues according to Google.

"Learn why comments are turned off
You may see "Comments are turned off." Here’s why:

You’ve selected the setting to "Disable comments."
YouTube may have turned off comments on some content for safety reasons, like to protect minors or for other safety issues. Learn more about our Community Guidelines.
Your channel or video’s audience is set as "made for kids." Learn more about this setting.
Comments on automatically generated Art Tracks are turned off if the primary artist doesn't have an Official Artist Channel. Learn more about Art Tracks.
You’ve shared a video in a post, and the video’s comments have been turned off either by the creator or YouTube. Learn more about posts."

So there is no confusion, I have received zero compensation from Ineos, and have in fact spent tens of thousands of dollars testing their vehicles on my own dime. We test every vehicle manufacturer's cars in remote areas of the world, including taking a Land Cruiser to all seven continents (also not sponsored by Toyota).

Mea Culpa, I was trolling Mr. Brady a bit. I never implied he was on the Ineos payroll. Still what seems like unrestrained exuberant praise might even make Lynn Calder blush. I love the vehicle, but it missed the bull's eye in several ways, and admittedly, I focus on that...

 

[Cheshire cat]

Well done Lars
Your response shows you as being a decent, if exasperated member. Hopefully the issues you have experienced get resolved, rapidly.

 

[RYAustralia]

I saw the video. It was done fairly well. I didn’t mind it. And to the point that someone using an interview to plug their product. Doesn’t anyone watch TV any more. Every Hollywood celeb going on a Tv show to do an interview mentions their new book / TV show / Movie/ self help guide it’s been like this forever. Why would Ineos be any different. As to interviewer style… I liked them both. Nice people talking about something they both like. What’s not to love. We’ve all seen gotcha interviews. No one benefits from those. Not the interviewer, not the interviewee. Just ask Martin Bashir, or Charlie Sheen, or Prince Andrew as some notable examples of lives destroyed by interview. Not saying Andrew didn’t deserve it for alleging he can’t sweat so is innocent of all accusation . But even still the fallout was a bit harsh for the poor bugger!

 

[Zimm]

I wanted to see what this forum was all about and had the pleasure of reading this comment first...

It does appear comments are disabled on that video, but not on our account. It is completely greyed out in our option set and I cannot turn them on (I also had no idea they were disabled until reading this), which can be caused by the following issues according to Google.

"Learn why comments are turned off
You may see "Comments are turned off." Here’s why:

You’ve selected the setting to "Disable comments."
YouTube may have turned off comments on some content for safety reasons, like to protect minors or for other safety issues. Learn more about our Community Guidelines.
Your channel or video’s audience is set as "made for kids." Learn more about this setting.
Comments on automatically generated Art Tracks are turned off if the primary artist doesn't have an Official Artist Channel. Learn more about Art Tracks.
You’ve shared a video in a post, and the video’s comments have been turned off either by the creator or YouTube. Learn more about posts."

So there is no confusion, I have received zero compensation from Ineos, and have in fact spent tens of thousands of dollars testing their vehicles on my own dime. We test every vehicle manufacturer's cars in remote areas of the world, including taking a Land Cruiser to all seven continents (also not sponsored by Toyota).

Nor was it paid for by you or the Journal. To be transparent, you need to be transparent. Who paid for it and does that individual have a relationship with Toyota?

 

[HereinDaRockies]

I saw the video. It was done fairly well. I didn’t mind it. And to the point that someone using an interview to plug their product. Doesn’t anyone watch TV any more. Every Hollywood celeb going on a Tv show to do an interview mentions their new book / TV show / Movie/ self help guide it’s been like this forever. Why would Ineos be any different. As to interviewer style… I liked them both. Nice people talking about something they both like. What’s not to love. We’ve all seen gotcha interviews. No one benefits from those. Not the interviewer, not the interviewee. Just ask Martin Bashir, or Charlie Sheen, or Prince Andrew as some notable examples of lives destroyed by interview. Not saying Andrew didn’t deserve it for alleging he can’t sweat so is innocent of all accusation . But even still the fallout was a bit harsh for the poor bugger!

You are easy to please.

Interview topics demonstrated Ineos was tone deaf af. During a time when they should be managing after sales relationships, they instead invested time to discuss superficial topics, while being fully silent when it came to customer pains.
It was frustrating at best, and infuriating when you felt the company was sneering.

Lynn and the company is now seemingly attempting to directly address customer concerns.

However at the time when this interview dropped, they were operating in a quiet period, well other than eagerness to discuss their “ethos”