[imagesource: Brandt BRV]

If you’ve ever lived in the Free State, you won’t be surprised to learn that there’s a company in Bloemfontein that makes bakkies.

Drive an hour out of the city and its farmlands for days.

Drive around the city and you’ll be confronted with more bakkies than you know what to do with, especially when trying to park between two of them at a shopping mall.

Brandt BRV is a family-owned business. CarBuzz spoke to Gerrit Brandt, the marketing and procurement manager, who said that the carmaker was founded on a need for “vehicles that offer ruggedness, reliability and low-maintenance costs”.

Their customers, says Brandt, “either want a workhorse that can withstand all conditions, or they want an exclusive off-road capable toy”.

That workhorse is called the Ineos Grenadier.

The thing clearly isn’t designed with the growing market for sleek SUVs and off-road vehicles that look as good as they drive, in mind.

Rather, it can only be described as a battleaxe.

Look at it go:

Watching that video, you probably noticed that the bakkie seems to take its cues from some cars of the past – more specifically, the Land Rover Defender.

Land Rover felt the same way which is why, as reported by Wheels24, they tried to trademark the design.

Possibly emboldened by the finding in favour of Jeep by the US International Trade Commission (USITC) in its infringement case against Mahindra and its Roxor vehicle (a Jeep CJ lookalike), Land Rover tried to protect its Defender design in the UK, but the Intellectual Property Office declined to grant a trademark for its design, ruling it is not distinctive enough.

In other words, they lost that battle, and the Ineos Grenadier has continued to rampage across rough terrain unperturbed.

Let’s head back to CarBuzz for a breakdown of the specs:

The car is fitted with a bespoke coil-over suspension, while the body is knocked out using 1,2 mm to 1,6 mm steel panels.

These tackle the farmlands on 35-inch tires and offer a ground clearance of 325mm.

The bakkie is powered by a Cummins 2,8 litre turbo diesel engine developing 160hp and 266 lb-ft of torque, which is slightly down on power when compared to contemporary South African pickups, but plans are in place to up the ante and fit it out with a locally designed engine.

It’s a beast, weighing in at 2 200kg, so good luck pushing it if it breaks down.

If you want one, you can snap up the M3 single cab 4×2 from R430 500, with the 4×4 coming in at R460 000.

Not a bad price point if you believe that looks aren’t everything.

It’s what’s inside that counts.

[sources:carbuzz&wheels24]