Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Grit, Rigor, and Fun: Inside the Success of INEOS Grenadier with Lynn Calder

Transcript

Grit, Rigor, and Fun: Inside the Success of INEOS Grenadier with Lynn Calder · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
0:10
Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and I am joined today by Lynn Calder.
0:14
Speaker 2: Now.
0:15
Speaker 1: Lynn is the chief executive of the Inios Automotive Group,
0:19
Speaker 1: and she has done an incredible job of bringing a
0:23
Speaker 1: new car company to market. Of course, she's had lots
0:26
Speaker 1: of help, but it is very clear in my conversation
0:29
Speaker 1: with her how much the brand needs to her, not
0:32
Speaker 1: only Inios as a petrochemical company, but also how much
0:37
Speaker 1: this automotive company means to her personally and to her team.
0:42
Speaker 1: So we talk about her leadership style, we talk about
0:45
Speaker 1: the challenges that Ineos has had. We talk about the
0:48
Speaker 1: things that she's most excited about going forward with the brand.
0:52
Speaker 1: We also discuss some of the key attributes of the
0:56
Speaker 1: executives and of the leadership team at Ineos overall, which
1:01
Speaker 1: includes grit, and there is no doubt that Lynn has
1:04
Speaker 1: an incredible amount of grit and success in her life.
1:08
Speaker 1: I learned a lot in my conversation with Lynn, and
1:10
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to see that a car company that
1:14
Speaker 1: I care so much about personally is being led by
1:17
Speaker 1: such an incredible leader. So please enjoy my conversation with
1:21
Speaker 1: Lynn calder Lynn, thank you so much for being on
1:25
Speaker 1: the podcast with me today. It's a joy to interview you,
1:29
Speaker 1: but also to meet you for the first time because
1:32
Speaker 1: Inios has been such a support in the completion of
1:36
Speaker 1: my journeys and the recent crossing of Africa and Europe.
1:39
Speaker 1: So I appreciate your time this morning.
1:42
Speaker 3: And actually I think it's such an honor for me
1:45
Speaker 3: to meet you as well, Scott, because we've been following
1:49
Speaker 3: your journeys across.
1:50
Speaker 4: Africa, UK, Greece.
1:53
Speaker 3: You're into the US in the Grenadier for the last
1:56
Speaker 3: year and it's been such a joy to watch shit
2:00
Speaker 3: all the support you've given us, and I can't believe
2:02
Speaker 3: we haven't yet met. So it's a good day in
2:04
Speaker 3: Los Angeles.
2:06
Speaker 1: And it is such an exciting new product for the
2:10
Speaker 1: overland space. So for us, this is this whole thing
2:13
Speaker 1: of Grenadier has felt like Christmas because we've waited so
2:17
Speaker 1: long for such a focused corporation like this, such a
2:21
Speaker 1: focused product. For you, what was one of your first
2:25
Speaker 1: or one of your greatest adventures that you've been on,
2:28
Speaker 1: just except the stage of your own travel experiences.
2:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've done a lot of interesting travel, but nothing
2:34
Speaker 3: on your scale. Scott But we did a fantastic trip
2:37
Speaker 3: last year. We being is actually the owners of Anios
2:40
Speaker 3: and a few members of the board of any As
2:42
Speaker 3: Automotive and we started in Cape Town. We went up
2:46
Speaker 3: to north of South Africa into Sugar We skirted along
2:51
Speaker 3: the Zimbabwe border and then we crossed into Botswana amazing
2:56
Speaker 3: and went all the way up to quite far north
2:58
Speaker 3: into the Okavanga Delta. And I think that was definitely
3:01
Speaker 3: one of the most adventurous and one of the most
3:05
Speaker 3: just you know, just one of those soul filling trips
3:09
Speaker 3: because it was quite varied as well. We were everything
3:12
Speaker 3: from mountains to desert to saltpands to water. Lots of
3:18
Speaker 3: times where we had to make decisions about how to
3:20
Speaker 3: get from one side of the river to.
3:21
Speaker 4: The other or roads washed away.
3:23
Speaker 3: And I think that for me, not only Africa, which
3:26
Speaker 3: I love the Grenadier and experiencing that in really it's
3:31
Speaker 3: heartland and where it's super comfortable. No situation that you
3:35
Speaker 3: put it in it doesn't really excel at So I
3:38
Speaker 3: learned a lot about the car, really became one with
3:40
Speaker 3: it rather than just driving it around.
3:42
Speaker 1: Because you have worked so hard to bring this physically
3:45
Speaker 1: to life. And to develop the dealer network and to
3:49
Speaker 1: develop this global brand, but for you to spend time
3:52
Speaker 1: in its natural state.
3:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I've been back a few times since then. Actually,
3:57
Speaker 3: it's probably like we'll try and take a week or
3:59
Speaker 3: two a year to do something like that, and it
4:02
Speaker 3: really is.
4:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just.
4:03
Speaker 3: It's bringing you back to the basics of why you
4:06
Speaker 3: we're doing this. It's bringing back to the basics of
4:09
Speaker 3: the car and the kind of the feeling it gives
4:11
Speaker 3: you when you're driving it. We always talk about putting
4:13
Speaker 3: the fun back into driving. Everything today is about not
4:16
Speaker 3: making you drive the car. The car is driving itself
4:19
Speaker 3: and we're all thinking, but isn't it fun to drive
4:23
Speaker 3: a car, especially a car like this? There it's just
4:26
Speaker 3: there's nothing like it.
4:28
Speaker 1: And it starts from the very top from Sir Jim
4:31
Speaker 1: and his passion for overland travel. He's ridden motorcycles across Africa.
4:36
Speaker 1: For him, I suspect this began very much as a
4:39
Speaker 1: passion project, but now it's about how do we make
4:42
Speaker 1: this viable in the marketplace. And I think that's what's
4:46
Speaker 1: been interesting to watch over the last six months is
4:48
Speaker 1: your team working very hard to not only continue to
4:51
Speaker 1: meet the needs of the enthusiasts, but to branch off
4:54
Speaker 1: into new markets. What are some of the new markets
4:57
Speaker 1: that you've identified where you see there's a lot of
5:00
Speaker 1: potential for the product.
5:02
Speaker 3: So I think the US in general still start geographically.
5:05
Speaker 3: I think we always knew that the US was going
5:07
Speaker 3: to be a really strong market for the Grandier. In Europe,
5:11
Speaker 3: we've got smaller roads, we've got tighter turns. It just
5:16
Speaker 3: felt like this is a car that's going to do
5:17
Speaker 3: really well in the US. I think what's taken us
5:19
Speaker 3: a little bit by surprise is just how well it's
5:21
Speaker 3: been embraced. We opened the books, the order books last
5:25
Speaker 3: year and all of a sudden we were saying, oh
5:27
Speaker 3: my god, the US market is looking like it's going
5:29
Speaker 3: to be twice the size that we thought it was
5:31
Speaker 3: going to be.
5:31
Speaker 4: And that's bearing out.
5:32
Speaker 3: And lots and lots of different states where it's really
5:36
Speaker 3: taking off. So we're going to a bit of a
5:37
Speaker 3: growth spurt in the US at the moment. So that's
5:39
Speaker 3: been really exciting. And then I think just seeing we
5:41
Speaker 3: are so grateful to the kind of real enthusiasts for
5:44
Speaker 3: off road because they're the ones that have tested it
5:47
Speaker 3: very much like yourself, you tested it and said, put
5:50
Speaker 3: it through its paces, really find out what this car
5:52
Speaker 3: can do. And that's been amazing. I think there are
5:55
Speaker 3: a lot of people now that are saying with these guys,
5:57
Speaker 3: think it's good, it must be really good. We're bunching
6:00
Speaker 3: into that market where maybe not so many people will
6:03
Speaker 3: actually do the extreme stuff that you guys are doing.
6:06
Speaker 4: With it, but they know it can.
6:08
Speaker 3: You like the fact that they know it can, so
6:10
Speaker 3: then it becomes the almost the apocalyptic car, right where
6:13
Speaker 3: like if I have to get out of a Dulge,
6:15
Speaker 3: this is going to take me anywhere I need to go.
6:17
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of people really enjoy that
6:19
Speaker 3: aspect of it, and just.
6:21
Speaker 1: A vehicle can oftentimes be a reflection of your personality. Yeah,
6:24
Speaker 1: and this person is working very hard. They're working seventy
6:27
Speaker 1: eighty hours a week, but when they get the chance,
6:29
Speaker 1: they like to get out into the mountains of Colorado
6:32
Speaker 1: or whatever. So every day they get to have that
6:34
Speaker 1: sense of adventure, even on their commute.
6:37
Speaker 2: For sure.
6:38
Speaker 1: Now you've had some new examples of the vehicles coming
6:42
Speaker 1: out recently, so your team just announced that you're going
6:47
Speaker 1: to have the portal Axle available which I did see
6:50
Speaker 1: that at Good Would and that was very cool in person.
6:54
Speaker 1: I think that's an interesting new idea. Are you looking
6:57
Speaker 1: more towards that. How do we take granted your as
7:00
Speaker 1: a platform and begin to customize it for the different
7:02
Speaker 1: needs of the customers.
7:04
Speaker 4: Yeah.
7:04
Speaker 3: I think the original idea of the Grendier and the
7:07
Speaker 3: platform that we've built on, so the kind of body
7:10
Speaker 3: on frame, it's got a lot of versatility, right, And
7:13
Speaker 3: I think that we always had it in our minds
7:15
Speaker 3: that once we get going with the series production vehicle,
7:18
Speaker 3: both the Grendier and the quarter Master pickup truck, that
7:22
Speaker 3: we would then start to play. We would start to
7:24
Speaker 3: show here are all the things that are possible with it,
7:27
Speaker 3: and we will only do a fraction of what owners
7:29
Speaker 3: will do and what the aftermarket will do. I think
7:32
Speaker 3: that the opportunities are almost endless with what you could
7:35
Speaker 3: do with it. And I think that the portal axle,
7:37
Speaker 3: Grenadier and quarter Master where we're doing it to both
7:41
Speaker 3: lifting it, putting bigger wheels on. It's got a couple
7:43
Speaker 3: of different sort of aspects to it. I think there's
7:46
Speaker 3: the it's work and play, right. We've actually sold a
7:48
Speaker 3: couple into the German fire station where you know, actually
7:54
Speaker 3: when they had quite bad floods earlier in the year.
7:57
Speaker 3: This lifted vehicle was fantastic because most of the car
8:00
Speaker 3: couldn't get through and the Portalalaxl Quartermaster got through. But
8:04
Speaker 3: it's also play, it's fun, it's really cool to look at.
8:08
Speaker 3: We did the same over last weekend actually in Iceland,
8:10
Speaker 3: and yeah, it's just fantastic. And I actually I was
8:12
Speaker 3: also test driving one round Germany and we're on these
8:15
Speaker 3: single track roads and I was we were doing off roading,
8:18
Speaker 3: but then we were coming back and so we're only
8:20
Speaker 3: single track roads and there's just traffic around, and every
8:23
Speaker 3: single person that came at me head on, we're.
8:25
Speaker 4: Just like, okay, I'll get out of the way.
8:28
Speaker 3: And you're just sitting there going like the.
8:34
Speaker 4: Road just opens. It's fantastic.
8:37
Speaker 2: I know what you're going to be driving in a
8:38
Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
8:39
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, if I could fit it into my garage.
8:42
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think versatility is the name of the game,
8:45
Speaker 3: right So, and that was theme of our event at
8:48
Speaker 3: Goodwood this year, was showing that you can do anything
8:50
Speaker 3: you want with this vehicle. You can make it a
8:52
Speaker 3: super high end premium cashmir liner, lambskin leather. You can
8:57
Speaker 3: also make it as Fary viewer, or you can have
8:59
Speaker 3: the most capable with that extra grind clearance four by
9:03
Speaker 3: four that I think is out.
9:04
Speaker 1: There and I've really appreciated seeing throughout the process the
9:08
Speaker 1: continued reinforcement of the vehicle as a travel platform. So
9:13
Speaker 1: just seeing the Safari Viewer and the fact that you
9:15
Speaker 1: guys are now working with a company. In fact, I
9:18
Speaker 1: think you've acquired a company in Africa to convert the
9:21
Speaker 1: Grenadiers into Safari viewing vehicles. Those are just continued reinforcements.
9:26
Speaker 1: I think the portal axles a continued reinforcement of the
9:29
Speaker 1: suitability of the vehicle and your desire as a corporation
9:33
Speaker 1: to continue to meet the needs of enthusiasts.
9:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the Safari Viewer is a great
9:38
Speaker 3: example of that because us with everything, it's got a
9:40
Speaker 3: genesis in something nice that then becomes a really quite
9:44
Speaker 3: a big deal for our organizations. So that actually started
9:46
Speaker 3: mean we know that Jim loves Africa. It was its birthday,
9:49
Speaker 3: so it started off with what woul Jim really love
9:51
Speaker 3: it would be a Safari viewer that's a Grenadier so
9:53
Speaker 3: it was a surprise and we actually enlisted this company
9:56
Speaker 3: in Botswana, a modifier to do that work for us,
10:00
Speaker 3: and he loved it.
10:01
Speaker 4: We loved it.
10:01
Speaker 3: We were like, oh my goodness, Like compared to a
10:05
Speaker 3: lot of the vehicles that are doing Safari trips, it
10:07
Speaker 3: just felt really nice. So then yeah, we acquired Kavango
10:10
Speaker 3: the business, the modifier business in Maune in Botswana.
10:14
Speaker 4: And now it's a fun time.
10:17
Speaker 3: And now yeah, they're going from strength to strength as well.
10:20
Speaker 1: No, in fact, I met a couple of the founders
10:22
Speaker 1: at Goodwood need folks.
10:25
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, Nick. Nick is great.
10:27
Speaker 1: So you've had an incredible career in business. You start
10:32
Speaker 1: off in private equity, you worked in multiple locations throughout inios.
10:37
Speaker 1: What have you found has been one of the most
10:41
Speaker 1: rewarding parts of being a leader in the automotive space.
10:45
Speaker 3: I think that's a great question, Scott. I think automotive
10:48
Speaker 3: is just like nothing I've ever experienced before, and it's twofold.
10:54
Speaker 3: I think for me, it's complexity, way more complex than
10:57
Speaker 3: most of the businesses that I've ran before, and that's
11:01
Speaker 3: across a number of different things. I talk about complex
11:03
Speaker 3: supply chain all the time, but the supply chain is
11:04
Speaker 3: off the charts, more complex than anything else in most industries,
11:08
Speaker 3: I think. So it's complexity, but it's also passion. Right,
11:12
Speaker 3: people don't get excited about chemicals really, that's much more
11:15
Speaker 3: of a kind of transactional. You've got the excitement. I've
11:19
Speaker 3: loved every business that I've worked in. You've got the
11:21
Speaker 3: excitement of winning, of doing the right things for the business,
11:25
Speaker 3: of working with a great team, achieving what you set
11:28
Speaker 3: out to do.
11:29
Speaker 4: So loved all of it.
11:30
Speaker 3: But automotive that the passion that's an automotive is just
11:34
Speaker 3: if you love cars, it's not the same as enjoying
11:37
Speaker 3: your job, but it gets into your bones and under
11:40
Speaker 3: your skin. And everyone in the team is like that,
11:43
Speaker 3: even people who many people have come in because they
11:45
Speaker 3: love automotive. Many people have come in because it's their
11:48
Speaker 3: first career and they thought they'll give it a shot,
11:50
Speaker 3: and now everyone is just a grenadier.
11:51
Speaker 4: On the brain.
11:52
Speaker 3: So, Yeah, it's super rewarding to work in something that
11:56
Speaker 3: there's just such a huge amount of passion for. We're
11:59
Speaker 3: all so in invested in this.
12:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can see it from every person at every level.
12:04
Speaker 1: One of the things that you're known for is for
12:07
Speaker 1: curating these teams of professionals in a way that allows
12:11
Speaker 1: them to operate autonomously. But in such a small and
12:14
Speaker 1: fast growing business, what are some of the things that
12:17
Speaker 1: you find help you identify great talent bring Dick great
12:21
Speaker 1: talent into a.
12:22
Speaker 2: Business like this.
12:23
Speaker 3: I think that's a great question as well, because I
12:25
Speaker 3: think it's something that in the really early days was
12:28
Speaker 3: a bit of a struggle, if I'm honest, because it's
12:31
Speaker 3: a certain type of person, an entrepreneurial type of person
12:35
Speaker 3: that says, I'm going to leave my safe job over
12:36
Speaker 3: here to come and do something pretty bold over here,
12:40
Speaker 3: and a lot of people are very risk averse with
12:42
Speaker 3: their lives they have to be, and so it's a
12:45
Speaker 3: real struggle in the beginning, I think, to talk about
12:47
Speaker 3: the story about what you're going to do and have
12:50
Speaker 3: people really buy into it. So it's taken quite a
12:52
Speaker 3: long time, but in the last three years we've grown
12:56
Speaker 3: like ridiculously. We were exciting at about just a shy
12:59
Speaker 3: of two thousand people now globally and it's got a
13:03
Speaker 3: lot easier, so I think for us, because we've got
13:06
Speaker 3: substance now. So for us, what we're looking for is
13:10
Speaker 3: it's aeos fit right, and Anios has these three words
13:13
Speaker 3: that they feel embodies the whole business, whether it's sport,
13:16
Speaker 3: whether it's chemicals, whether it's oil and gas, whether it's cars,
13:20
Speaker 3: whether it's fashion.
13:21
Speaker 4: We're in so many.
13:22
Speaker 3: Different things now exactly so, which is grit, rigor and humor,
13:26
Speaker 3: And they are such we talk about them all the time,
13:28
Speaker 3: but they are such great words to embody Ineos because
13:31
Speaker 3: everyone who works for Anios and has done for a
13:34
Speaker 3: while really gets it, really understand what it means. And
13:36
Speaker 3: it basically means that it's the deter The grit is
13:38
Speaker 3: the determination that when everyone else has gone home, you're
13:41
Speaker 3: still going to be there at it. You're you're not
13:43
Speaker 3: going to fail, You're not going to stop. You're not
13:45
Speaker 3: gonna stop until you've done everything that you possibly could do.
13:49
Speaker 3: Rigor is not shooting from the hips. It's actually having
13:52
Speaker 3: that kind of analytical, data driven approach which is, Okay,
13:56
Speaker 3: we might have a great gut feel about something, but
13:58
Speaker 3: let's bear it out with with the facts, the data,
14:01
Speaker 3: and let's do our homework, do the job, not just
14:04
Speaker 3: say whatever you think so just rigor and then do
14:07
Speaker 3: it all with an attitude which is have fun, and
14:11
Speaker 3: if you enjoy what you do, and you enjoy the
14:14
Speaker 3: cut and thrust of it, you're gonna have a laugh
14:16
Speaker 3: about it.
14:16
Speaker 4: You're going to have fun.
14:17
Speaker 3: You might challenge each other day to day, but you're
14:19
Speaker 3: going to go down to the bar and have a pint,
14:22
Speaker 3: as we would say in the UK at the end
14:23
Speaker 3: of the day and everyone gets on. So I think
14:27
Speaker 3: oftentimes what we're looking for is fit to that more
14:30
Speaker 3: than necessarily someone who's got every imaginable credential.
14:35
Speaker 1: Sure, it sounds like you've described the tenets of being Scottish.
14:41
Speaker 4: Was it the drinking?
14:44
Speaker 2: No?
14:44
Speaker 1: I think it's also that's very neat to hear. I've
14:47
Speaker 1: not heard those three foundations around your team before. But
14:51
Speaker 1: it also describes so much of what it is to
14:53
Speaker 1: be a traveler and what it is to travel in
14:55
Speaker 1: a vehicle like this is not taking things too seriously
14:59
Speaker 1: when you have a bad day border and you have
15:01
Speaker 1: a tough border crossing, having some humor, being able to
15:04
Speaker 1: relax at the end of the day, being prepared, like
15:07
Speaker 1: having your documentation an alignment, having some rigor around the process,
15:12
Speaker 1: and then not giving up when things get challenging, continuing
15:15
Speaker 1: to push through, and that certainly in my mind summarizes
15:19
Speaker 1: what you have also accomplished with the Grenadier. So that's
15:22
Speaker 1: why I wanted to try to drive it across africas
15:26
Speaker 1: let's see if it really is what they say it was.
15:28
Speaker 1: And the fact that it was unit number three hundred
15:31
Speaker 1: and seventy two and it not only crossed Africa across
15:35
Speaker 1: Europe and it never had a single failure, to me,
15:38
Speaker 1: that was surprising.
15:39
Speaker 2: It was such a new vehicle.
15:41
Speaker 1: I was expecting something small to happen at least and
15:44
Speaker 1: nothing happened.
15:45
Speaker 2: So that completely took me by surprise.
15:48
Speaker 3: And it's great to hear because I could sit here
15:51
Speaker 3: and say, oh, that's really good. A huge amount of
15:53
Speaker 3: effort went into that. It's not an accident. We're not perfect.
15:57
Speaker 3: We're learning a lot. We've got things that we are
16:00
Speaker 3: doing constantly to make sure our quality is exactly where
16:03
Speaker 3: I expect it to be for our customers, and we
16:05
Speaker 3: put a huge amount of effort into that. But on
16:07
Speaker 3: the front end, we always knew that if we can't
16:10
Speaker 3: deliver the reliability and the durability for people that are
16:14
Speaker 3: going to be going out there in the middle of
16:15
Speaker 3: nowhere doing all sorts of crazy stuff, like you do, Scott,
16:18
Speaker 3: then we'll it's just going nowhere. And so the level
16:22
Speaker 3: of effort and upfront kind of testing that's gone in
16:25
Speaker 3: to make sure that can happen is and that's why
16:28
Speaker 3: it's great to hear.
16:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. One more question I've got for you.
16:32
Speaker 1: You have this rare opportunity to interact with Sir Jim,
16:35
Speaker 1: who his story is fascinating and his travels are also fascinating,
16:41
Speaker 1: something that he's very passionate about. What are some things
16:44
Speaker 1: that you've learned about leadership from Jim?
16:47
Speaker 4: That's an excellent question, Jim.
16:49
Speaker 3: Jim is a unique I've never met anyone like him,
16:53
Speaker 3: and I won't again, and it's because I think maybe
16:57
Speaker 3: the best example would be the one that you started
16:59
Speaker 3: with where you said he's an adventurer. This whole thing
17:02
Speaker 3: was because it was a bit of a passion project.
17:04
Speaker 3: It was a bit of a pet and I think
17:06
Speaker 3: that it's not wrong to say that, but I think
17:08
Speaker 3: that there's a general misunderstanding of Jim with that view
17:12
Speaker 3: because and everyone has it, because that's exactly what it
17:16
Speaker 3: looks like. You know, it's a billionaire saying I want
17:18
Speaker 3: to build a car that I like let's see if
17:21
Speaker 3: I can do it or not. But actually he's a
17:27
Speaker 3: businessman through and through. So I think that's the biggest
17:30
Speaker 3: lesson I've learned is that he looked at that and
17:33
Speaker 3: he saw, yeah, I've got the chance to go and
17:35
Speaker 3: do something fun and get involved with something I can
17:37
Speaker 3: learn and to know. And he really has learned it
17:40
Speaker 3: from the inside out. But he also saw a gap
17:42
Speaker 3: in the market. He saw that no one else was
17:44
Speaker 3: doing it, and he really felt like, we can actually
17:46
Speaker 3: take the world on this. We can make this a business.
17:48
Speaker 3: He's an entrepreneur. He thought, I can double the size
17:50
Speaker 3: of Anios with this business. So I think my lesson
17:54
Speaker 3: in leadership from Jim is, you know, be bold, think big,
17:57
Speaker 3: but have the business credentials. It's not just about an idea.
18:00
Speaker 3: It's got to have business fundamentals that you can deliver.
18:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, the ideas are the easy part, exactly.
18:06
Speaker 1: One last question for you, what is the next adventure
18:09
Speaker 1: for you, whether it be business or travel. What are
18:12
Speaker 1: you most looking forward to? What challenge are you most
18:14
Speaker 1: looking forward to in the year to come.
18:16
Speaker 3: Look, I think I'll definitely start with the business aspect.
18:18
Speaker 3: I think every day is a bit of an adventure.
18:21
Speaker 3: It's extreme highs and extreme lows. With a startup of
18:25
Speaker 3: this stature, now we are becoming quite big. We're still
18:29
Speaker 3: very small in the grand scheme of automotive manufacturers, but
18:32
Speaker 3: we're in fifty countries now, we are delivering. We will
18:35
Speaker 3: have by the end of this year delivered our twenty
18:38
Speaker 3: thousandth Grenadier worldwide, and that brings with it a whole
18:42
Speaker 3: new phase for us, which is looking after our customers
18:44
Speaker 3: on the road as well as growing into new markets.
18:47
Speaker 2: So you just launched in Mexico this last week, Yeah.
18:50
Speaker 3: Just in, Yeah, three weeks ago. I'm heading down there
18:52
Speaker 3: in two weeks time. Actually, yeah, it's I think twenty
18:55
Speaker 3: twenty five is going to be our biggest, most adventurous
18:58
Speaker 3: year yet, because I think it's really the rubbers hitting
19:01
Speaker 3: the road of this is a proper oem. Now we've
19:03
Speaker 3: got to grow up. We can't be a startup forever.
19:05
Speaker 3: We've got to get or kind of be maybe slightly
19:08
Speaker 3: less adventurous every day with the extreme highs and the
19:11
Speaker 3: extreme lows, and every year we grow up. I think
19:13
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five is going to be our biggest year yet.
19:15
Speaker 3: And then personally, I think you mentioned somewhere at the
19:18
Speaker 3: beginning of our conversation today. That is on the cards
19:20
Speaker 3: for me next year, probably around this time next year,
19:22
Speaker 3: which is Tanzania. And I've been before, but a really
19:26
Speaker 3: long time ago, like twenty years ago, nearly, and I
19:29
Speaker 3: obviously haven't been in a Grandeur. So I'm really excited
19:31
Speaker 3: to go to Tanzania and you are there too, Yeah,
19:34
Speaker 3: absolutely absolutely, And I have met them. They came to
19:37
Speaker 3: Cape time once and I met them there, but it'll
19:38
Speaker 3: be really nice to see them on home turf.
19:40
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Congratulations on all of your success. It's been a
19:44
Speaker 1: joy to work with you and the team. It's been
19:47
Speaker 1: a true pleasure to get to know this vehicle and
19:49
Speaker 1: to test it in the field, and we're so excited
19:52
Speaker 1: about what's going to come next. What would you ask
19:55
Speaker 1: of our listenership, our readership, what are some things that
19:58
Speaker 1: we can do to help any us?
20:00
Speaker 3: Thank you for asking that, Scott, that's great.
20:02
Speaker 4: I think two things.
20:03
Speaker 3: One is, if you're an owner already, our ears are
20:06
Speaker 3: always open. As I say that are things that are
20:09
Speaker 3: that we will look at for the future. If there
20:11
Speaker 3: are things that you guys, you know ideas thoughts, Our
20:15
Speaker 3: ears are always open We said from day one in
20:17
Speaker 3: this business that what we want to do is build
20:20
Speaker 3: a car that people want to drive. Right, and if
20:22
Speaker 3: you're not an owner already, please get yourself down to
20:24
Speaker 3: your local dealer because there's nothing.
20:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's nothing.
20:27
Speaker 3: You can look at it and say, oh, yeah, it
20:28
Speaker 3: looks nice, but there's nothing like being in it, getting
20:31
Speaker 3: your backside on the seat, experiencing the kind of overhead
20:36
Speaker 3: console panel of aircraft style controls, and do some cool
20:41
Speaker 3: stuff in it because there's yeah, it's fun, fun.
20:44
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, Thank you again, Lynn, I appreciate your time
20:47
Speaker 1: today and we thank you all for listening, and we'll
20:50
Speaker 1: talk to you next time.
20:52
Speaker 4: Thanks Scott, perfect