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Britain's richest industrialist and co-owner of Manchester United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, splashed £591 million (€710 million) on his car manufacturing project last year as he prepared for production.
Ineos Automotive, which makes the Grenadier off-roader, now owes the rest of Sir Jim's chemicals manufacturing empire €2.43bn after borrowing a further €710m.
The company posted a loss of €431 million last year, slightly better than its performance in 2022, after recording its first sales.
But the company, founded in 2018, has been hit by supply chain issues that closed its factory in France earlier this year after one of its suppliers ran into financial problems and supplies of seats ran out.
Ineos Automotive was founded after Sir Jim decided to create a successor to the Land Rover Defender after Jaguar Land Rover stopped production of the farmers' favourite.
The idea came to him in 2017 in a pub called Grenadier. Deliveries of the first cars began in December 2022.
In addition to the Grenadier, Ineos has also developed the Quartermaster, which is a pickup version of the vehicle and an electric version, the Fusilier, is in the works, which will be sold from 2028.
Sir Jim had planned to manufacture the engines in Bridgend, Wales, but a ready-built car factory in Hambach, France was made available, providing ready labor and easy access to suppliers on the continent.
Sir Jim is the fourth richest Briton, according to the Sunday Times rich list, with a wealth of £23.5bn.
He made his fortune in chemicals, acquiring unloved plants from big operators including BP. Its chemicals are used in plastics, including those found in Lego bricks.
It has since expanded into the soap business after making hand sanitizer during the pandemic and owns motorcycle jacket maker Belstaff, which it also had to shore up after it posted losses in 2021.
As well as owning a stake in Manchester United, he owns French Ligue 1 club OGC Nice and Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport.
Ineos, of which it owns just under two-thirds, also co-owns the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland with PetroChina. Last month it was announced that the refinery would close in 2025, with the loss of 400 jobs as part of a deal to convert it into a fuel import terminal.
Ineos and PetroChina said the refinery had recently been making losses and could not compete with newer, cheaper plants in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
