First five-door Suzuki Jimny unveiled in India; local reservations open now but Aussie deliveries unlikely until 2024
It was leaked in December and spied back in 2021 and now the first five-door Suzuki Jimny has been officially revealed at the 2023 Auto Expo in India, where it will be produced and exported to Australia within about six months.
Suzuki Australia managing director Michael Pachota said the Japanese small-car brand’s local dealers are now taking reservations for the 2023 Suzuki Jimny 5-Door ahead of first customer deliveries either late this year or early 2024.
“It’s confirmed for Australia, no set time,” he told carsales. “We’d like to see it this year – hoping late this year but most likely early next year.”
Pachota said he expected the first five-door Jimny to receive huge interest from the public and dealers in Australia, where the three-door continues to attract scalpers by commanding waiting times of up to 18 months despite record production and sales, and he urged potential customers to get in quickly.
“We’re yet to discuss the vehicle with them [Suzuki Australia dealers]. It only just got its worldwide premiere, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be excited,” he said.
“We have a sh*t load of pre-orders already coming through. It’ll be the same process as the three-door – first in best dressed.”
More than three years after its local launch in 2019, Pachota said Aussie demand for the Jimny three-door – particularly in automatic guise – exceeded supply by such a degree that new orders could soon be halted.
“Manuals are easier to come by versus automatics, so we have a much bigger back-order for autos. We’re still in a huge back-order situation with over 3000 orders still pending. And the orders keep rising as a lot more new customers are coming to Suzuki,” he said.
“Right now we have about 80 per cent auto, 20 per cent manual [orders]. We have some people waiting out to a year and a half, so we’re considering whether we should pause the order list.”
Australian pricing and specifications are yet to be announced for the five-door Jimny, but Pachota confirmed it will be more expensive than the three-door, which is currently priced from $26,990 plus on-road costs.
“There’s no price guide as yet,” he said. “If anything I’d be looking at other products in the market, at their three-door models and five-door models and the difference between them. You need to consider the rest of the market.
“[But] there’s not really another a compact full-time 4WD on the market. It sits on its own.”
Other than a longer wheelbase, an extra pair of rear doors and revised rear seats, the five-door will share its key specs with the popular fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny three-door built in Japan since in 2018 (followed by Indian production via Maruti Suzuki for Latin America and Africa since late 2020).
Riding on a 2590mm wheelbase and measuring 3985mm long overall (both up 340mm on the three-door), the Jimny 5-Door remains strictly a four-seater and cargo capacity is listed at 208 litres and 332 litres with the rear seats folded.
