The Suzuki Jimny five-door long wheelbase that we reported on earlier this year has had its official reveal date pushed out to early next year. The new model was scheduled to be debuted at this year’s Tokyo Motor Salon but the event was cancelled due to the uptake in COVID-19 cases.
As Auto Car India reports, the Suzuki Jimny five-door long wheelbase will break cover in the first half of 2020 with a market launch to follow by July. The publication speculates that this could be pushed out even further due to the ongoing pandemic.
In terms of its overall size, it is widely speculated that the upcoming Suzuki Jimny five-door long wheelbase will have a wheelbase that is 300 mm longer than the three-door’s. Assuming that the vehicle’s rear overhang remains the same, this would bring the overall length up to 3925 mm.
The Suzuki Jimny five-door long wheelbase is rumoured to usher in a facelift that will also apply to the three-door model. Like the latter, the five-door model will be built by Maruti Suzuki in India, and although it hasn’t been confirmed for South Africa, it would surely be an obvious contender for our market.
A report last year revealed that Suzuki would pull its in-demand Jimny from sale in Europe before stricter emissions regulations took effect this year.
The Japanese firm promptly instructed its dealer network in Europe to stop accepting orders for the plucky little off-roader.
New EU legislation restricts each automaker to a passenger-vehicle fleet CO2 average of 95 g/km (or face hefty fines). And it seems the Jimny’s naturally aspirated 1,5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine thus finds itself on the European chopping block.
Suzuki combatted this by introducing the Jimny as an LCV in the UK. This model is being sold in very limited numbers throughout the remainder of 2021. In order to reclassify it, Suzuki has stripped out the rear bench, making the Jimny a two-seater 4×4.
Render provided by X-Tomi
