Increased demand for Suzuki's pint-sized four-wheel drive is expected to empty showroom floors in 2025, before an updated model arrives from Japan in the New Year – possibly with price
Higher-than-expected demand is poised to see the Suzuki Jimny three-door face a stock 'blackout' by the end of this year, ahead of new shipments with upgraded safety features due early next year.
Jimny three-door production for Australia was paused at the start of the year, as it fell foul of a mandate for autonomous emergency braking technology with certain parameters that the Suzuki 4WD did not meet.
Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pachota confirmed last month the Jimny's return was "a matter of when", not if – but he told Drive this week that increased demand is expected to see stock of the current model dry up before the updated version arrives.
“With the current car, sales have actually gone up, so we’re running out of stock,” Pachota told Drive.
"So, we’re going to have a little gap where we are not going to be able to supply the Jimny three-door towards the end of the year.”
While timing is yet to be firmly locked in, Pachota told Drive he expects examples of the updated Jimny three-door to arrive in Australia from Japan at the start of 2026.
The five-door Suzuki Jimny XL – built in India, and fitted with more advanced crash-avoidance sensors – is not affected.
Prices are yet to be confirmed, but there may be an increase from the current three-door Lite's entry sticker of $34,990 drive-away to account for the safety changes, which include a more capable autonomous emergency braking system, and adaptive cruise control on the auto.
While the Suzuki Jimny three-door is equipped with autonomous emergency braking, the current system doesn’t meet the operating parameters outlined in Australian regulations, known as ADR 98/00.
Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell
