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Suzuki to Show a Jimny Pickup In Japan
Just when you thought the Jimny couldn’t get any cooler.
After dropping the fantastic little Suzuki Jimny on overseas markets earlier this year, engineers from the company are having a bit of fun with the bite-sized off-roader.
Shown above is the Jimny Pickup, a rig which the company says will appear at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January. Think of the Auto Salon as kind of a Japanese SEMA and you’ve got the general idea. The company hasn’t given much in the way of powertrain detail on this neat little pickup … but just look at it!
The concept is based on a standard Jimny, with a small open bed grafted onto the back in place of its enclosed cargo area. A set of knobby off-road tires of unknown vintage are shown mounted on retro wheels whose dog dish hubcaps are just fantastic. A set of recovery hooks hang off the front bumper like a spoilt child’s bottom lip but it’s unclear if they’re functional or just for show. LED lights peeping above the cab are a modern take on the classic KC Hi-Lites.
Its front fascia gains a SUZUKI billboard in place of the stylized ‘S’ logo the company has favored in recent years, marking the Japanese company’s entry into this rapidly spreading styling trend (see also: F-150 Raptor, Silverado Custom, Tacoma TRD Pro). The Jimny Pickup concept is painted gold with a spear of woodgrain down its flanks and, in a development sure to make GMC’s lawyers apoplectic, the word ‘Sierra’ appears in tall block letters.
Meanwhile, a tarted-up Jimny called the Survive is the blue/gray rig shown here which – if Google Translate is doing its job properly – imagines a Jimny kitted out for extended off-road adventures.
The standard Jimny is a dandy little ladder frame machine with 3-link rigid axle suspensions and 4WD with a low-range transfer gear. It has 8.3 inches of ground clearance, a 49-degree departure angle, and a 37-degree angle of attack. It measures just 137 inches in length on a 88.5-inch wheelbase, giving the little brute a breakover angle of 28 degrees. For comparison, a 2-door JK Wrangler checks in at 164-inches and 95.4 inches respectively.
Sure, it’s only powered by a tiny engine but considering its weight is about equal to that of a small pebble, those who have driven it report the 1.5L of displacement to be more than enough.
Despite the brand having vacated our shores a few years ago in terms of selling on-road machinery, there remains a dealer network for bike and ATV sales. Could Suzuki sell the little Jimny through that channel? If so, we think they’d find more than a few takers for this pint-sized off-roaders.
