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Suzuki Australia has dropped its APV light-commercial van and drastically slowed sales of the Jimny four-wheel drive because of a lack of essential safety equipment.
As of November last year, all light-commercial vehicles sold in Australia must be fitted with stability control as standard. The APV is not offered with stability control and has therefore been pulled from Suzuki Australia’s consumer website, and is no longer eligible for sale.
A Suzuki Australia statement confirmed that the APV would no longer be sold in its current form: “We can confirm the Suzuki APV has been discontinued in the Australian market effective immediately.
The APV van was powered by a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder capable of 68kW/127Nm. Suzuki recorded a combined fuel consumption figure of 8.2L/100km and CO2 emissions of 190g/km.
The Indonesian-built van competed with other small LCVs including the Renault Kangoo, Fiat Doblo, Citroen Berlingo and Volkswagen Caddy.
No news of an updated APV has yet been reported.
The Jimny, meanwhile, can no longer be sold in unlimited numbers as it lacks side airbags. According to Suzuki, the company is not allowed to sell any more than 100 examples of the Jimny in any given year, under government safety regulations.
“The Suzuki Jimny has been removed from suzuki.com.au to avoid confusion. This is based on the limited number of vehicles we can supply due to government requirements,” Suzuki added in a statement.
The tiny four-wheel drive has been around since 1998, with mild updates along the way, making it one of the oldest vehicles available in Australia before it was removed from the Suzuki Australia roster.
It is likely that this will be just a brief hiatus for the long-running Jimny, with a fourth-generation anticipated later this year.
Spy shots of the all-new Jimny show a familiar small and square body, though it will surely adopt newer Suzuki tech and hardware.
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