In the streets of Sarreguemines (Moselle), people were saying that we had been “working at Smart” for almost a quarter of a century. Will we one day say that we “work at Grenadier”? This is the hope of the managers of Ineos Automobile, since the purchase in 2020 of the Mercedes-Benz factory. The formula would then implicitly reflect the city's attachment to the company. Because since Mercedes Benz took the reins of the Hambach site, near Sarreguemines, the entire economic landscape of the coal basin has been transformed.
After having, in the 1990s, contributed to revolutionizing in France the relationship between motorists and the way of driving, with the Smart, the German brand handed over to the British manufacturer which intends to continue the revolution with its 4 x 4 Grenadier. Since the launch of its production on October 17, 2022, 15,000 copies have been exported to different countries in Europe and the United States. This year, their number is expected to double.
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