The first Suzuki Jimny is already in Spain

The new Suzuki Jimny will arrive in our market next October, and it had already gathered a considerable number of orders even before physically reaching our country.

If only a few days ago the first official images of the new Suzuki Jimny were unveiled, now the brand’s top executives in Spain have brought a unit of this highly anticipated model to our country so that the dealership network managers can see it, touch it and prepare their technicians for the arrival of the new Jimny, which will go on sale in our market in October.

Suzuki Jimny: an off-roader with nearly 50 years of history

Suzuki showcased the third generation of the Jimny alongside historic models, offering a visual and technological tour from the early LJ and SJ models of the 1970s, through to the veteran Jimny it is replacing, passing by the popular Samurai that arrived in the 1980s and were manufactured in Linares, Spain. Three generations and almost fifty years of a concept that never goes out of fashion, returning with more strength than ever, with its well-earned reputation for robustness, reliability and off-road capabilities that are hard to improve upon, largely thanks to its compact weight and size, exceptional off-road clearances and a traction system, including a low-range transfer case, that makes it unbeatable on any surface. Across all generations of the Suzuki Jimny, 2,850,000 units have been sold worldwide.

Juan López Frade, President of Suzuki Ibérica, stated during the presentation of the first Jimny in Spain that “it is a completely new car. It keeps the name, but has nothing to do with the previous one; it only shares with it the concept of pure off-roading, with a low-range gearbox and light weight so it never gets stuck.”

“Defining the model in view of the complex issue of emissions was not easy. The Jimny does not have low emissions under the new WLTP measurement system that will come into force in January 2019, and sits at 185 grams of CO2. But Suzuki did not want to lose that DNA of a benchmark off-road vehicle in the market. Because of this, a peculiar situation arises: from 1 September to 31 December the Jimny’s registration tax will be 4.75%, but then, when the WLTP rule is applied in 2019, the circulation tax will rise to 9.75%.”

“The engine is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol unit with 102 CV, offering excellent response and frugal consumption, and from the outset it will be available with manual and automatic gearboxes. The mechanical range is simple, but alongside the three versions we are bringing, the colour palette is wide, with very vivid and eye-catching tones, also with two-tone bodywork and a huge variety of accessories that will allow buyers to create an exclusive Jimny very easily.”

“We will soon know the final price,” Frade said, “we have to study it carefully because this model carries far more technology than previous versions and incorporates everything imaginable, including driver assistance systems such as lane departure warning and traffic sign recognition, among other things. The most important thing is that we know it is unbeatable away from the road, but we can also assure you that this car is genuinely comfortable, stable and fun to drive on tarmac. In this respect it has nothing in common with the earlier Jimnys; it has improved greatly, and we are sure the public will be very grateful for it.”

Juan López Frade admitted that “we do not yet have a sales forecast; we want to sell as much as possible, and for the time being the factory’s production capacity will determine the number of units each market gets, at least at the start, until everything settles. We know that in Spain there will be strong demand, and we have requested a generous number of units, which will be delivered to us progressively. We would have liked to have a significant stock already in our country to meet demand, but I fear that will not be possible. Customers want it now, we have many requests, including firm financial reservations at our dealerships made by customers who have not even seen the car, but who want it.”