Well,
@Tom D , if it helps at all in your conversation with Lynne, here's the perspective of someone who's not a Grenadier owner, but is a solid candidate for a Grenadier buyer. Not to be overly solipsistic, but I feel I'm probably of the general demographic and mindset of the person out there who has not bought one yet, but could very well do so if the conditions were right.
And as such, I really don't see a world in which there's someone who's interested in an Ineos who does not read about them online first. Maybe not all of them do deep research, but do at least enough research to know what they could be getting into. Can't imagine a buyer that just casually strolled into the dealership and drives one off the lot without knowing about them first. I'm also of the demographic who's always relied on vehicle-specific forums, so here i am.
I should note that I do not live close to any Ineos dealership. I'm in Kansas City, and the closest dealer is around 8 hours away. Would not really scare me too much for day-to-day stuff. I can spin a wrench; I owned a Land Rover for 9 years, 6 of which were out of warranty, during which I mostly took care of it myself. Service stuff, basic mechanic stuff. Anything that could be done in a day or less, I'd do.
That all in mind, what people can read online is definitely concerning. Some things, like the front drive shaft, would be a bitter pill but also sort of par for the course on a unique, brand new vehicle from a brand new manufacturer. Replacing a drive shaft with a better aftermarket one is a one-banana job. Not what you want to
need to do on a new vehicle, but it is what it is. It's not like I don't spend money on parts to modify a brand new vehicle anyway.
But the lack of a service manual and OBD reader is just too big a barrier. As has been mentioned, that in and of itself violates the laws of at least 5 states, and I'm sure some various tort or contract claims could be brought in many others.
Part and parcel with that issue is the limited dealer/service network. If there's some fix that requires more than what I'd care to do (or more than I'd care to spend out of pocket), 8 hours to get to a dealer service location is just too much. This one probably seems obvious, but hear me out. If Ineos wants to be selective and roll out its dealerships slow and methodically, whatever. Maybe Ineos is having growing pains, or maybe it wants to "protect" the existing dealers and not water down these dealers' sales on a vehicle that's probably always been destined to be a low volume proposition from the get go.
But Ineos should really should partner up with some sort of service network to get more places that can do warranty work. I understand that would make it pretty unique (in the U.S., at least), as I'm not aware of any other manufacturer who allows warranty work to be done outside the manufacturer's dealer network. Nonetheless, if Ineos wants to generate sales, at this point it needs to think outside the box. This HAS to be the main thing holding back sales at this point. I have no problem flying to Chicago, Dallas, or Colorado Springs to buy one, so long as I know I can get it worked on closer to home. They do this, and I guarantee sales would significantly bounce up and the existing dealer network would be much happier.
(I suppose this could open Pandora's box--if existing service locations can't get parts in timely fashion, bumping sales with more service networks won't help. But let's table that for now.)
Despite all this, I still can't get the idea of owning one of these out of my head. I feel like I'm a drawn bow just ready to shoot that arrow, and all it would take is Ineos getting its shit together on even just a basic level for that to happen.
