The story
Most pickups start as trucks and get dressed up as lifestyle accessories. The Quartermaster went the other way. Ineos took the Grenadier Station Wagon, stretched its ladder frame by 305 mm, cut the roof off behind the second row and fitted a bed sized for a 1,200 × 800 mm Euro pallet. It still has coil springs at all four corners, Carraro beam axles and a BMW straight-six, so it rides and crawls like an expedition wagon with an open load bay. AutoDaily put it neatly: it's "more of a 4×4 with an open load area than what we would call a pick-up."
FROM GOODWOOD TO HAMBACH
The Quartermaster made its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2023. Series production began in November 2023 on the same Hambach, France, line that builds the wagon, in the former Smart factory Ineos bought from Mercedes. European deliveries were due from December 2023, with Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa next. A bare cab-chassis for tray bodies was added in Australia and New Zealand.
Australia, where Ineos partnered with tray maker Norweld, was a key market. There the Quartermaster goes head to head with the 70 Series LandCruiser ute, which still has a leaf-sprung rear. Caravan World drove both and found the Ineos more compliant over small bumps and "blasts the 79 Series out of the water" off-road. The Toyota keeps the edge on payload, price and parts availability.
WHAT THE EXTRA FOOT BUYS (AND COSTS)
The bed is 1,564 mm long and 1,619 mm wide, with 1,337 mm between the wheel arches, four lashing eyes and a 400 W power outlet. The tailgate takes 225 kg (about 496 lb) when it's down. Payload depends on market and engine: Ineos quotes up to 907 kg for an Australian petrol truck and 832 kg for the diesel, and about 1,675 lb at US launch. Towing stays at 3,500 kg (about 7,700 lb), the same as the wagon. Petrol output is unchanged at 282 hp; the diesel makes 550 Nm.
The extra length costs some geometry. Approach angle is a strong 36.2°, but breakover falls from the wagon's 28.2° to 26.2° and departure from 36.1° to 22.6°. That's why the spare wheel lives upright in the bed rather than under it, where it would hang down and cut the departure angle further. The catch is that you have to lift the spare out before a pallet will go in. Turning circle grows to about 14.5 m, roughly a metre more than the wagon, and Top Gear called that figure "genuinely appalling."
THE AMERICAN PROBLEM
Ineos opened US orders in April 2024 at $86,900 for the base Quartermaster and $94,900 for the Trialmaster and Fieldmaster, all before destination. That was $15,400 more than the Station Wagon, and most of the difference was the 25% chicken tax on imported light trucks. The September 2024 production stoppage, caused by a parts shortage after supplier Recaro Automotive went insolvent, pushed US deliveries back, and the first cargo ship of Quartermasters reached America in March 2025. A month later, new US tariffs took the total import duty on the truck to 50%.
Ineos said it would absorb most of the extra tariff, but the US starting price still rose 11%, from $85,500 to $94,500 including shipping, according to Automotive News. Ineos told the paper the Quartermaster could reach up to 20% of its US volume and pitched it against the Rivian R1T and F-150 Raptor rather than a Silverado. Expedition Portal's long-term test truck towed a 5,000-plus-pound Xplore overland trailer and drew this verdict: "Expect it to drive like the HD truck it is and not a car, and it won't disappoint."
THE 2026 FIX AND THE BUILD SCENE
For 2026 the Quartermaster got the same fix as the wagon: a variable-ratio steering box that's firmer and more precise near straight-ahead, steering stops that cut the turning circle by about 5%, better climate-control components and a faster way to silence the Intelligent Speed Assist chime. A Black Edition joined the range, and US 2026 price lists show no base Quartermaster, starting instead at the Fieldmaster and Trialmaster. The off-road hardware didn't change.
The aftermarket has been quicker than the factory. Norweld builds trays and canopies, Dirtbox Overland sells a $11,499 canopy camper made for the bed, and Leitner Designs makes a full-length roof rack that bolts to the roll cage rather than the gutters. Owners on the INEOS Forum fit Dirtbox caps, adjustable shocks and spare-wheel relocations, and Expedition Portal has filmed a Quartermaster on Letech portal axles. It's the closest thing on sale to a new 130-inch Defender pickup, and owners are building it that way.
SIDEBAR · THE KAIJU
Ineos Builds the Ute Australians Would Build
In December 2024 Ineos Australia revealed the Kaiju, a one-off Quartermaster built with local aftermarket partners to show how far the platform can go. It started as a Trialmaster with three lockers, a raised air intake, an auxiliary battery and factory bull bar, sliders and checker plates.
Norweld fitted an aluminium tray with a 1,200 mm trundle drawer, a 40-litre water tank and a Compact Deluxe Lite canopy holding a 130-litre fridge. REDARC supplied a 2,000 W inverter and 150 Ah lithium battery, Brown Davis a 168-litre long-range fuel tank, and JMACX remote-reservoir shocks replaced the factory dampers. It ran 315/70R17 mud-terrains. Ordered through Ineos retailers, selected parts from official accessory partners come with extended Ineos warranty.
