Suzuki News

The new Suzuki Swift has received a one star safety score from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

It feels like the Suzuki Jimny has been around forever, but compared to its predecessor, the fourth-gen 4WD’s six-year vintage means it is still a long way from its mid-life crisis. 

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At the launch of Suzuki’s first ever electric car, the eVitara, President Toshihiro Suzuki poured cold water on the prospect of the much-rumoured electric Jimny. “If you talk about the Jimny EV, I think it would ruin the best part of the Jimny,” Suzuki-san told British outlet Autocar, before saying he believes the Jimny’s core strength is being “the right weight”.He also noted electric car demand is in a state of flux and may not be the best investment for Suzuki, which sells almost half its volume in India. “Affordable and cheap EVs from China are coming into the market, so it is a very difficult time to introduce BEVs,” said Suzuki. The Jimny as we know it in Australia was dropped from the UK market in 2020 due to emissions regulations, however it remains on sale in two-seat light commercial vehicle trim wearing 15-inch steel wheels — it looks suitably tough. For its future in the United Kingdom, the Jimny looks like it will continue as a lightweight but combustion-engined alternative to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, with Suzuki suggesting biofuel, e-fuels and other combustion engine technologies are expected in its future. Suzuki-san also denied a strong, Toyota-style hybrid, would suit the Jimny’s application. Suzuki’s Australian arm has commented before, ruling out an EV in the current ladder frame set-up but suggesting a hybrid would be appreciated for our market, especially with New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES) approaching rapidly.It wouldn’t be as simple as swapping the Swift’s mild-hybrid ‘Z12E’ engine in, as the Jimny’s 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine is mounted longitudinally (North-South) rather than transversely (or East-West). Regardless of the future, it seems Suzuki has shifted gears from last year when it shared a teaser image depicting a whole range of silhouettes, including new-look Jimny, promising five electric cars would be in market by 2030. The fourth generation Jimny was unveiled in July 2018 and went on sale in Australia in January 2019 in three-door form. Five years on the car hasn’t changed majorly, save for the addition of a practical five-door model in 2023. Suzuki's rugged four-wheel drive has plenty of life left in it if the third-gen Jimny is anything to go by, as it was manufactured in Japan from launch in 1998 right up to the fourth-gen’s release 20 years later. Suzuki has shown it isn’t afraid to play with the formula adding the five-door model and there is chat about a future pick-up/ute version in the future. Toyota has also shown this formula works with its shrunken HiLux Champ model, which is expected to spawn a 4WD a little bigger than the Jimny in the rumoured mini LandCruiser FJ.

Suzuki and Toyota have confirmed further collaboration on the development of a battery-electric SUV to be led by Suzuki and manufactured by Suzuki Motor Gujarat in India from mid-2025.

The real world fuel efficiency of cars has long been in question, with owners and road tests repeatedly finding huge chasms between ratings used in advertising and what happens on the road. 

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The phenomenon that is the Suzuki Jimny continues to defy convention and expectations.Despite now being over half a decade old in Australia and with little to no change in specification since then, demand for the existing three-door shows no signs of slowing down, helping boost sales by over 50 per cent this year.It’s even surprised Suzuki, which anticipated the recently-released Jimny XL five-door wagon to surpass it, but instead sales are split fairly equally at 50/50.Things don’t look like subsiding either, since the continuing popularity of the nameplate here and abroad means wait times for all Jimnys are likely to grow, and not shrink, in the foreseeable future.According to Suzuki Australia General Manager, Michael Pachota, while the company is working hard to meet existing orders, the situation is not likely to improve at all any time soon – particularly for some of the more popular variants.“Orders for the three-door (Jimny) are still through the roof – especially for the automatic,” he recently told CarsGuide. “The wait times are roughly about six to eight months.”Unsurprisingly, buyers of manual versions in both body styles haven’t had to be so patient, as wait times for these are only between two to four months.There has been some respite from extended wait times for fans of the compact off-roader following the arrival of the long-awaited XL five-door wagon version late last year due to large shipments from India, but Pachota warns the generous production allocation afforded to Suzuki Australia looks set to dry up soon.“With the Jimny five-door wagon – we had an awesome flurry of production, after an opportunity was granted for us to get early high volumes,” he explained. “Even though its order rate is just as high as the Jimny three-door, the supply rate has been much better since the early part of its launch.“Which has been great for us, because we could get more cars out on the road quickly. And people that placed orders are only waiting anywhere up to three to four months, subject to colour obviously.“(But) we won’t be able to maintain that long term, based on that supply chain and the popularity of the car increasing overseas as well.”Pachota added that strong demand for the XL has occurred even though little to no promotional dollars have been allocated to it so far.“Our orders are continuously growing on that car,” he said. “And we still haven’t even advertised it.”What this means is that, if you’re after a Jimny of any shape or specification, you’d better get your skates on.Moving forward, it’s been reported that the Jimny may gain the long-rumoured ute version as per previous-generation models, while a mild-hybrid system is anticipated in the not-too-distant future for European markets. Suzuki has also confirmed that an all-electric model is under development for a 2030 release.All of these would simply amplify Jimny demand in Australia.

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