The Suzuki Jimny Is Set To Be Killed Off In Europe
Suzuki UK hasn’t been especially keen on selling the Jimny. The British intake of the retro-styled off-road workhorse has been deliberately restricted, as its low-powered, 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated inline-four belches out a hilarious 170g/km of C02 in automatic form.
That’s a higher emissions figure than a BMW M340i, to give some context, and the manual isn’t much better - it manages an unimpressive 154g/km. If Suzuki sells too many, it’ll screw up the firm’s average fleet emissions. Now, though, it seems Suzuki will go one step further, by removing it from the European range altogether.
Autocar India reported that European dealers have already been instructed to cease taking orders, although given that Jimny demand has so far outstripped supply considerably, there is still a waiting list of cars to work through. Suzuki UK confirmed in a statement that the vehicle will still be on sale this year “in very limited numbers,” although it will be removed from the range at some point next year. The company’s British arm said that it, “will make every effort to ensure delivery to its customers who have already placed an order”.
The move is all do to with incoming EU emissions laws, that will see heavy fines imposed on manufacturers unable to comply with a 95g/km fleet average. In response, Suzuki is moving to a fully electrified range, with all models to feature either a 12-volt or 48-volt mild hybrid system. The Jimny isn’t available with either setup.
It’s not all bad news, however. The car will return in a commercial guise, which means it’ll lose the rear seats (which aren’t much good for anyone other than small children anyway), but won’t be covered by the 95g/km rule. Suzuki UK hasn’t been able to confirm or deny if that version will make it here, but we’re crossing our fingers.
Plus, according to Autocar India’s sources, there are plans afoot to reintroduce the Jimny as a normal passenger car at a later date with a more frugal engine.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Sad
Whaaat!? It’s such a lovely car!
It’s sad, but if they’ll manage to bring it back as a two seater, I’m more than ok with it. More space in the back for my dog.
Appreciate this is mostly to aerodynamic drag etc; but surely they could develop/fit a more efficient engine? Or add the mild hybrid set up from the Swift?
The demand for this thing has been crazy so that should cover any R&D spend.
The engine isn’t an issue. It’s an AWD car with aerodynamics of a building.
“firm’s average fleet emissions” - no shit??? They have one year waiting list in Russia and Ukraine, because they don’t give a f*ck about emissions to be honest :))))
They should make a fully electric Jimny
What is the point of rumor articles like these? your source is Autocar India which has no source or statement from Suzuki. They’re literally just writing articles to meet their daily count and you’re copying them, not even creative enough to make up your own stories.
Meanwhile Autocar UK are reporting The Jimny will stay on sale with a statement from Suzuki…
The statement wasn’t available when the article was first written - it’s since been updated with elements of the statement plus some further insight from Suzuki UK. The car is only sale this year in very limited numbers (in the UK, haven’t been able to confirm the situation elsewhere in Europe) and will be removed from the range in 2021.
And articles like this that source other outlets are fairly normal practice across the industry. We try to have a balance between this, our own bespoke reporting/reviews etc. Only so much we can do with a very small editorial team.
See, they should have made it with the 1.0 boosterjet, or the 1.2 mild hybrid, hell have some fun and throw in the swift sports 1.4.
Well….the truth is that commercial vehicles are not regulated by this nonsense rule (yet)…Cannot wait for this to backfire massively…sadly, the politicians who forced this bs down our throats will not be held accountable for the economic and social downfalls that are undoubtedly on the way thanks to this rule. It is doing very little to fight the real causes of increased CO2 production (global consumerism) and as such deserves to fail.
This is one of 3-4 new cars that are actually exciting and outstanding. With this and the Audi TT gone the air gets thin…