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.
