Ineos want to manufacture in US

FT article this morning

Ineos Automotive is searching for sites to move production of its flagship 4x4 vehicle from France to the US, as its billionaire owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues to pump cash into the struggling carmaker.

Chief executive Lynn Calder told the Financial Times the group aimed to start producing its Grenadier off-roader in America “as quickly as possible” to meet local demand.

Client Challenge

 

[CRH]

London yesterday. Aspirational, practical motoring. Just don"t get creamed by a bus!View attachment 7910040

That's a K at the end of the reg plate, I'm not driving one of those things

 

[Tazzieman]

Do you believe everyone wants one?Surely you can’t.

No , not 100%. But for example in Norway they love them. 90% of new car sales. Clean, cheap power and tax freaks.
My wife owns a rocketship Volvo twin motor EV. Loves it. I can drag most ICE cars off the lights if I was so inlclined ( but I'm a grown up). It doesn't need services ( OK maybe wiper blades/fresh air filter every 3 years) , doesn't chew brakes (regen) and costs USD5 a week electron fee to cover 10000+ miles/year. ( even done the foreign maths for you ;<)).
So depending upon your own lens , it can work brilliantly.
Oh and we refuel at home. 3 phase power/ big solar.
EVs can make a lot of sense.
As always, it depends on one's little personal situation.

 

[Eric]

Ha ha someone driving around on fake plates ( or the car is less than 2 days old ?)

1st September registration, 38 days

 

[Tazzieman]

1st September registration, 38 days

New money. Unexplained wealth. Don't question.

 

[HeavyFoot]

No , not 100%. But for example in Norway they love them. 90% of new car sales. Clean, cheap power and tax freaks.
My wife owns a rocketship Volvo twin motor EV. Loves it. I can drag most ICE cars off the lights if I was so inlclined ( but I'm a grown up). It doesn't need services ( OK maybe wiper blades/fresh air filter every 3 years) , doesn't chew brakes (regen) and costs USD5 a week electron fee to cover 10000+ miles/year. ( even done the foreign maths for you ;<)).
So depending upon your own lens , it can work brilliantly.
Oh and we refuel at home. 3 phase power/ big solar.
EVs can make a lot of sense.
As always, it depends on one's little personal situation.

Those that love them can have them. To me they have no soul - but I don’t knock you for loving it. What disturbs me is the manipulation of the demand. In our country the tax benefits given for buying one cheapen the item for those that usually afford their own car anyway, increase the tax burden upon those that don’t benefit from them, and in the long run will hurt the poor in my opinion. Our president (not everything orange man does is bad, don’t be scared) has the tax benefits expiring any day now, if they’ve not already. Now we will actually be able to see what people here want.

 

[FlyersFan76]

Ummm, on LInkedIn Ineos Automotive wrote they lost €30mn, FT wrote $290mn in 2024....that is quite a difference, isn't it? Also, on LinkedIn they told everything goes in the right direction, they are strong blablabla...and they told FT they'd rather go to the US.

I see some challenges for Ineos Automotive here...moving to the US is costly and chemical business units do not have money, actually. Looking at other caf brands, they all took their specialists from their home country to the US to build the production facilities (The CEO of Ford Jim Farley stated a few days ago, that he sees a real crisis in missing specialist who can build car plants in the US, so he understands why Hyundai brought over their own staff).
Ineos haven't done such a thing, yet (again something where they are newbies). The last time this has become visible was the ICE raid at Huyndai. So who are the specialists Ineos takes to the US and who wants to go, always facing the thread of being arrested. IMHO the only chance is take over an existing facility and that also means there is a lot to do....and pay.

However, at least FT confirmed what I was writing here already and what was questioned all the time...Ineos Automotive has only survived because the chemical business pumped a massive amount of money into Automotive. All in all, reading the FT article, Ineos Chemicals pumped $3bn to Automotive and they borrowed $232mn from banks, while downrated to a high risk level. Sounds solid....

AWo

They do not necessarily need to take over an existing facility. There are contract manufacturers in the US. AM General made the R-Class for Mercedes for export. They own(ed) the H2 plant and not sure what they are using it for now. Magna has plants in NA as well.

Pure speculation on my part.