A ute version of the popular Suzuki Jimny ladder-frame SUV will not happen, according to the brand, due to a number of factors.
Suzuki has poured cold water on the idea of a Jimny ute based on the current ladder-frame SUV, despite toying with the idea as early as 2019.
Speaking to Drive at the 2025 Tokyo motor show, Suzuki Motor Corporation Chief Engineer Takamitsu Sasaki simply said there are currently no plans for a ute-backed Jimny due to a number of factors.
“There is not really much demand,” Sasaki-san said.
“If we were to make a Jimny truck, we would have to make it very durable, and that is very difficult.
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“To put a lot of weight on the backside, we need to make the frame stronger.”
The fourth-generation Jimny made its global debut in 2018 before a ute version concept surfaced less than a year later at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Salon built by Suzuki.
Featuring a two-seat configuration, jacked-up ride height, beefier bumpers, all-terrain tyres, and ‘Sierra’ decals, the show car whet the appetite for a road-going diminutive pick-up truck.
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However, that model will not materialise in an official capacity, leaving Jimny utes the domain of body converters.
Sasaki-san’s point about the ladder-frame chassis not able to handle loads holds true as the Jimny – in three-door and XL five-door guises – features a maximum payload of just 340kg, which also needs to account for passenger weight.
Likewise, when asked if a more potent Jimny could eventuate, Sasaki-san said the current version is designed in a holistic fashion, meaning shoehorning in a more powerful engine would be unfeasible.
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“We are not considering a bigger [engine] model because this model is a very particular with the body and the engine,” Sasaki-san said.
“It’s a balance, it’s the just-right size, so we’re not considering a bigger engine.”
The Jimny in Australia is powered by 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a 75kW/130Nm output, while the Japanese version – classed as a kei car and therefore limited in engine size and power – makes 47kW from a 658cc turbocharged three-cylinder engine.
The post Suzuki Jimny ute is not happening because of ‘no demand’ appeared first on Drive.
