Nearly three years after announcing its acquisition of the former Mercedes-Benz site in Hambach, France, to build its Grenadier off-road vehicle, Ineos has now announced that it has acquired Botswana-based Kavango Engineering, said to be one of southern Africa's most established vehicle conversion specialists.
The business has since been renamed Ineos Kavango, and operates from a site in northern Botswana, at the gateway to the Okavango Delta. Its 5,000m2 site employs 70, and completes up to 200 conversions annually.
Ineos states that the business will retain the original members that founded Kavango Engineering, although its operations will now expand to encompass conversions and ongoing maintenance of Grenadier Station Wagon and Grenadier Quartermaster pickup truck for a wide range of use cases.
These use cases include conservation, safari, anti-poaching, veterinary, primary healthcare and film production. To accommodate this expanded operation, a piece of land adjacent to the site currently used by Ineos Kavango has been earmarked for further development that will double the scale of the operation.
Ineos Kavango is additionally said to have created a Safari Grenadier from a donor production prototype vehicle. Built in late 2022, the modifications to the vehicle are said to have been minimal, although it does get a raised ride height, and has had its roof replaced by a lightweight roll-back canvas top with a foldable windscreen. The car also now sports tiered seating to maximise visibility for passengers seated at the rear.
