Suzuki Jimny ute, hybrid and EV coming

Customer demand for the 2024 Suzuki Jimny remains as strong as ever – both globally and in Australia – but that isn’t stopping the Japanese small-car brand developing more derivatives of the popular compact off-roader.

The latest-generation Jimny three-door continues to command long delivery wait times long after its local release in 2019 and the stretched five-door Jimny XL has further boosted sales since earlier this year.

But along with an EV version of the Jimny that’s expected to arrive by 2030 (one of five new battery-electric Suzukis likely to be revealed by the end of this decade) and a hybrid version due before then, Suzuki is still considering a Jimny ute for global release – perhaps reprising the Mighty Boy name.

“Anything that starts with Jimmy ends in sales,” said Suzuki Australia’s general manager for cars Michael Pachota at the recent launch of the new Suzuki Swift.

When quizzed about the long-awaited two-door pick-up based on the Jimny, Pachota stated: “The project, I would say, is not dead.

“Imagine a Jimny with two seats at the front and nothing at the back?”

Suzuki’s local chief also expressed his enthusiasm for other more efficient derivatives of the Jimny, which would lower the brand’s fleet-wide CO2 emissions amid the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) due to be implemented by the federal government from 2025.

“I'd like to see other variations of the Jimmy product – variations that could probably even help with NVES,” said Pachota.

Speculation surrounding a tray-back ute version of the fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny shifted into overdrive when the Jimny Pick-Up Style concept was revealed at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Suzuki New Zealand then poured more fuel on the fire in 2020, forging ahead with a local conversion program that resulted in the Jimny utility that Aussies have been clamouring for ever since.

Jimny sales have increased by more than 50 per cent so far in 2024, making it Suzuki Australia’s top-selling model and the second most popular model in the small SUV segment behind only the Mazda CX-3.

Indeed, the latest Jimny has been so successful that the Japanese brand was forced to stop selling the most popular three-door auto version in early 2023 while it caught up with a backlog of orders.

Right now, delivery wait times for new orders of the Suzuki Jimny three-door remain between six and eight months for the auto and between four and six months for the manual.

Wait times for the bigger five-door Jimny XL are two to three months for the auto and one to two months for the manual.

As the popularity of the Suzuki Jimny continues worldwide, it seems it’s a matter of when – not if – the model range is expanded beyond the current three- and five-door wagons to include ute and electrified versions.

Suzuki Australia’s local chief was tight-lipped on the Jimny EV, which is expected to be released by 2030 as one of several new electric cars for key markets like Europe, Japan and India as part of a $US15 billion ($A22b) EV push.

But a petrol-electric hybrid version of the Suzuki Jimny is also all but certain to arrive in the next few years – most likely as part of a facelift – because the current model’s aged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine has already been banned in some countries due to its relatively high CO2 emissions.

Pachota wouldn’t be drawn on when a hybrid Jimny would arrive Down Under, but he previously told carsales it wouldn’t happen in 2025, leaving the Jimny as the only Suzuki model sold in Australia without a hybrid powertrain option.

“But I would say that would be in a plan of the future based on the growth of electrification and the hybrid options within our stable. I don't think that I would rule that out,” he said of a hybrid Jimny.

When carsales suggested the mild-hybrid 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine in the new Swift hatch wouldn’t cut the mustard in the Jimny with outputs of just 61kW/112Nm, Pachota said: “I would agree with you on that, but I don’t know [what form the Jimny’s hybrid engine will take] yet.”

Either way, Suzuki Australia admits the Jimny’s current engine – in tandem with the boxy retro design that has made it a cult classic – will be penalised under Australia’s incoming emissions regulations, which will include fines for vehicles that exceed average CO2 limits and credits for those that meet them.

“There’s no doubt about it, I don’t think it will fare well at all from a penalty perspective,” said Pachota.

“If we get the credits up, offsetting the penalties, we’re OK. But then it’s just subject to what we bring in to counter that,” he added, noting that incoming hybrids and the brand’s first EV in 2025 should balance the CO2 ledger for the brand.

“When NVES was announced we looked at it very seriously. We considered our current product portfolio versus what our future plan was and just had to tweak that a little bit.

“So are we overly threatened? Not necessarily. We do have to make some changes, everyone will. But I dare say that our changes are not going to be so big as some of the other brands,” said Pachota

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