It was in 2017 when Mercedes dipped its toes in the luxury truck segment with the X-Class serving as a fancier Nissan Navara. The collaboration turned out to be a commercial flop as the posh truck was retired a couple of years later due to poor sales. Archrival BMW has never put a truck on the market, but there have been several one-offs throughout the years, with the most recent being the 2019 X7 Pickup concept.
The chances of ever seeing the roundel on a truck are slim, but from now on, it is possible to buy a workhorse with a BMW engine. Ineos Automotive has taken the wraps off the Grenadier Quartermaster, a double-cab, five-seat pickup offered exclusively with B57 and B58 engines. These inline-six 3.0-liter units are hooked up to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission that should be familiar to BMW fans. It’s an off-road vehicle through and through by offering a permanent 4×4 system, a two-speed transfer case, and a center diff.
Customers can make the Grenadier Quartermaster even more competent off the beaten path by paying extra for the front and rear diffs. As for the engines, the gasoline unit has 282 hp and 331 lb-ft (450 Nm) whereas the diesel packs 245 hp and 404 lb-ft (550 Nm). Stick to the B58 and the pickup truck will reach 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in 8.8 seconds whereas the B57 needs 9.8 seconds. Not that it matters a great deal on such a specialty vehicle, but the top speed is only 99 mph (159 km/h).
As a refresher, the Ineos Grenadier SUV version is offered with the same BMW engines. These are not the only two vehicles to currently use powertrains developed by the German luxury brand as the latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sport have larger V8s from Munich. Should Land Rover ever decide to bring back the Defender with a bed, there might be another BMW-powered truck one day.
Buying a pickup straight from BMW is highly unlikely since the company’s design boss Adrian van Hooydonk told us at the beginning of the year a pickup truck is “not an obvious fit for the brand.” He added, “We don’t have to go after every trend that is happening.”
Source: Ineos Automotive
