One of the oldest family motor businesses in Britain is preparing to launch one of the country’s newest brands.
Founded in 1926, C E M Day has been appointed South and West Wales agency for Ineos Grenadier, which arrives later this year.
C E M Day is still headquartered in Wales but has sales, service and rental outlets nationwide with a handful of popular brands apart from Ford which it took on exactly 90 years ago.
It has 8,500 vehicles on its rental fleet and its finance arm holds a multi-million-pound book and the business turns over about £100M annually with 550 staff nationwide.
C E M Day has won several customer service awards in recent years and it is this background which helped them gain the Ineos Grenadier brand for South & West Wales which will be based in their Neath Abbey branch and where a dedicated showroom is under construction.
C E M Day managing director Russ Day (above) and fourth generation of the family to head the business said, “We are very excited to be representing this new brand in South and West Wales and believe it willl appeal to a wide variety of users, with country dwellers, emergency services, local authorities, utility companies and those who have particularly active lifestyles among our potential buyers.
“We will be having demonstrators in the Neath showroom towards the end of 2022 but will also be showing off the Grenadier at county shows and, of course, the Royal Welsh Show in future.”
The Ineos Grenadier is the brainchild of one of Britain’s richest industrialists, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and at one time was earmarked to be built next to the now-closed Ford Bridgend Engine Plant but when Mercedes-Benz closed a factory in France the production plan was moved abroad. It has been developed from the ground up by specialist off-road engineers contracted by Ineos who had practicality and reliability at the forefront of design.
Power comes courtesy of BMW 3.0 litre six-cylinder petrol or diesel engines and future plans include electrification as demand grows and charging networks expand, although many parts of the world will still need ICEs for many years. Only automatic transmission will be offered together with range changes and fully independent coil sprung suspension.
There will be a choice of station wagons, a utility version alongside a double-cab pick-up body style priced from £49,000 to £59,000 for the launch range but others will be developed and buyers have a very wide choice of fittings and accessories to personalise their Grenadier.
