The Jimny was showcased at the Auto Expo 2020 and though the company kept it on a low profile, it grabbed the maximum eyeballs. Last year, Maruti Suzuki also started manufacturing the three door version for export markets raising hopes of an imminent launch in India but they have all come to nought. Now ETAuto has learnt that the car would finally hit the roads in India in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
What’s more, the nameplate will also have multiple options including a 5 door 5 and 7 seater variants. With these Maruti hopes Jimny will not only hold its own against the Mahindra Thar but also upstage it. Launched in October 2020, Thar ushered a revival for Mahindra despite being offered only in 3 door variants–a body style that has traditional not worked in India. With the Jimny, Maruti hopes for even better results.
The PP trial of five-door Jimny scheduled this month has been delayed due to supply constraint of the imported content.~
The success of the model would be crucial for the company at least in the medium term. Its relative weakness in the SUV segment– a particular strong point for its two straight rivals Hyundai and Tata, has seen the company report its lowest market share in FY2022 in the domestic passenger vehicle industry. Tata Motors on the other hand has scripted a stunning turnaround and is on a 13 year high. “I think right now, we are not as good as others in the SUV space. So without expanding our product lineup in the SUV space, we cannot recover. We have a plan to enhance our product lineup in this SUV space especially,” said newly appointed CEO Hisashi Takeuchi in his first interaction with the media in last month.
According to sources, production of the five-door Jimny was originally scheduled to start in February 2023 but is being pushed to March or April due to supply constraints. In recent times most of Maruti Suzuki’s launches have seen a delay.
The carmaker is also planning to produce a 7 seater variant which it believes would be an ace up its sleeves.~
“The company is aiming to produce about 75000 units in the very first years,” the first source aware of the matter told ETAuto. According to 2nd source, the Maruti Suzuki doesn’t have board and leadership’s approval to produce diesel but they are working on this.
“The company had scheduled its PP trial in May 2022 which has been delayed and has also impacted the pilot trial for the five-door Jimny to January 2023.” a third source told ETAuto. In the first phase, the SUV will have about 70% percent localization which the company expects to increase in due course.
The third source also informed that now a PP (pre pilot) trial of the SUV will begin in June-end. While at least two of the sources confimed to ETAuto that five-door Jimny will be launched in both 5-seater and 7-seater variants to counter its arch rival Mahindra Thar on practicality. A 7-seater variant if done well can be a game changer as Maruti Suzuki is know for its agressive pricing strategy.
Maruti’s SUV push also includes a re-badged Toyota SUV that will rival the Hyundai Creta and will come ahead of the festive season this year.~
The 5-seater Jimny will most likely be sub-four metre in length which may enable the Japanese carmaker to price it substantially below the Thar. It will be powered by a 1.5-liter petrol engine, which churns out 102 PS of power at 6,000 rpm and 130 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. Built on a ladder frame chassis, it gets low range transfer gear and 3-link rigid axle suspension alongwith Suzuki’s Allgrip Pro 4 wheel drive technology.
With a legacy of over 5 decades, Jimny is currently being sold in 194 markets around the world. The CKD assembly of the three door version in India is currently being primarily exported to Peru and Columbia and will soon be offered to the Middle East and Africa. Maruti Suzuki was also the country’s largest car exporter in fiscal 2022.
Strengthening its SUVs portfolio further the country’s large carmaker will launch its first Toyota re-badged SUV codename YFG in the first part of the second quarter. Powered by gasoline and hybrid engines, YFG will take on Hyundai’s best-selling SUV Creta. The carmaker expects a production volume of about 2 lakh units.
