Suzuki Jimny ute emerges

If there’s one thing cooler than the fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny, this could be it – a Jimny ute.

Suzuki New Zealand has taken Jimny pick-up matters into it own hands, chopping up the baby 4X4 and turning it into a tray-back.

The certified conversions are being completed in Whanganui, on the North Island of New Zealand, with a Suzuki team cutting the Jimny wagon in half, installing a flat-bed tray and tidying up the space behind the front seats to make a carpeted storage area.

Suzuki NZ offers two Jimny grades – entry-level JX and the top-spec Sierra – although Australians are only offered one top-spec grade known as the GXL, which is priced at $23,990.

That means the JX ute gets different equipment to our models, including steel wheels (in place of alloys) and halogen headlight globes (instead of LED projectors), and lack a leather-wrapped steering wheel, climate control and touchscreen infotainment unit.

However, it does retain safety gear such as brake support and high-beam assist.

It’s also worth noting that while NZ's Jimny ute retains the same 75kW/130Nm 1.5-litre engine as the SUV on which it’s based, the baby ute is offered exclusively as a five-speed manual.

More importantly, will a Suzuki Jimny ute ever come to Australia?

We certainly hope so. And so does Suzuki Australia’s general manager, Michael Pachota, saying the factory in Japan is open to the idea of adding a ute version to the Jimny range.

"I am pushing for the development for a ute-back Jimny in Australia," the general manager of Suzuki Automotive Australia, Michael Pachota, told carsales at the Jimny national launch near Melbourne.

"Australian consumers can’t wait to get their hands on a ute version, so I’m pushing very hard with the factory to try and get that into Australia," he explained.

Suzuki is currently selling the JX Jimny ute in New Zealand for $NZ37,990 ($A37,590).