Maruti Jimny To Get A BIG Safety Boost: Details
The Jimny may not have been a huge sales success in India, but it continues to post decent three-digit monthly volumes. More importantly, Maruti Jimny has managed to carve out a dedicated set of fans among niche and lifestyle buyers. Maruti Suzuki is now known to be working on a facelift to the five-door Jimny.
Unlike what you would expect from a traditional update, the carmaker isn't likely to put a strong focus on restyling the vehicles or on giving its powertrain an upgrade. Instead, this update will be about improving its safety levels.
Reports say that many of these updates have already made their way to the made-in-India five-door SUV. The facelift will likely complete the list by adding modern safety tech like ADAS. Made-in-India Jimny five-door is sold in Japan as the Jimny Nomade. We expect both the Jimny and the Nomade to get these updates. It will first launch in Japan and then be brought to India as well.
The BIGGEST Update: ADAS!
*Representational image
Reports from Japan say that Suzuki will soon introduce its ' Safety Support suite' on the Jimny. This will add a dual-camera-based autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system to the vehicle. The carmaker introduced this tech on models like the Fronx earlier this year.
This system will also offer features like traffic sign recognition with pause, Adaptive Cruise Control, and Reverse Brake Support for automatic variants. The addition of this level 2 ADAS suite will make the Jimny safer and appeal to a wider set of buyers. The current Jimny, to be honest, lacks complex electronics and is known for being rugged. Many love it for being oldschool. The update will make it more relevant in today's evolving safety landscape.
The Design To Stay The Same!
Suzuki, according to reports, will retain the current Jimny's boxy design on the facelift as well. This design continues to be in high demand. Many love the Jimny for its tiny proportions and boxy shape. These are particularly loved by people in other countries (including Japan).
The five-door Jimny now has a strong foothold abroad. It amounts to a third of Maruti Suzuki's net exports! Over 1 lakh units have been exported since launch. In Japan, the five-door enjoys huge demand. The Nomade racked up 50,000+ bookings in just four days of launch there! This was much beyond expectations for the carmaker. In addition to Japan, the five-door Jimny is also sold in markets like Latin America, Africa, and Australia.
Given this is how things are, it is unlikely that Suzuki would think of major restyling or a complete redesign, with the facelifed model. Why fix something that is already in perfect shape?
Relax, Jimny EV Is Just A Rumour!
We recently came across speculations of Suzuki possibly developing an all-electric version of the Jimny. The company has now dismissed these for rumours, at least for the time being. Toshihiro Suzuki reassured fans that the Jimny will continue to be sold with non-electrified petrol engines. EVs are thus off the table.
However, there are chances that Suzuki would introduce a hybrid engine on the Jimny sometime in the future. This will be of help in selling it in emission-cautious markets like Europe.
In India, even the updated Jimny will continue to be powered by the 1.5-litre K15B petrol engine. It is now available with two transmission choices- a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.
The present SUV produces 104 hp and 135 Nm of torque, and comes with Four Wheel Drive (4WD) hardware as well. At the time of writing this article, the SUV has a starting ex-showroom price of Rs 12.75 lakh in India. The facelift could bring about an upward revision.