Maruti Suzuki begins exporting Jimny SUVs from India

It was reported last year that Maruti Suzuki India would begin producing the fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny in India for export, and the company has now delivered. It recently announced that the first batch of 184 units has left from Mundra port in Gujarat to Columbia and Peru in Latin America.

According to Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, the company’s Gurugram plant in Haryana is the second location where the Jimny is manufactured, and shares the same specification as the export models produced at the Suzuki Motor’s Kosai plant in Japan. The company plans to expand exports to other Latin American markets as well as the Middle East and Africa in the future.

Export models have different specifications from the kei car version sold in Japan. The regular Jimny sold there measures 3,395 mm long, 1,475 mm wide and 1,725 mm, with the only engine option being a R06A 658 cc turbocharged three-cylinder engine making 64 PS and 96 Nm of torque. Japanese customers there get part-time four-wheel drive as standard, with a choice of a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

Suzuki also offers the larger and more expensive Jimny Sierra in Japan, which is 3,550 mm long, 1,645 mm wide and 1,730 mm tall. It is powered by a a K15B 1.5 litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder (102 PS and 130 Nm) with standard AWD and the same two transmission options. The Jimny made by Maruti Suzuki India refers to this version, but it is 95 mm longer (the wheelbase is 2,250 mm across all versions).

For now, the Jimny is only made in three-door form globally, although Autocar India reports that a five-door version will be launched in India later this year. Sources told the publication that the new model will be longer than the export model, although its length will not exceed the four-metre mark to benefit from lower taxes in the country.

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