Suzuki Jimny Could Transform Into a Rugged Commercial Vehicle to Avoid Dying: Report
And it’s all over tightening emissions standards.
In light of tightening emissions standards in the European Union, Suzuki is facing tough choices with one of its most sought-after models. The Jimny, a tiny-but-rugged 4x4 utility vehicle, produces way more CO2 than standards will allow when the numbers change again for 2021 in the European Union. Initially, reports of the Jimny's death were spread early Friday morning, but later on, Suzuki calmed our fears by saying that the Jimny "will still be sold, but in very limited numbers throughout 2020," reports Autocar.
Sadly, there’s no confirmation from Suzuki that it will continue on after that. The company already admitted that the tiny off-roader's high CO2 emissions “adversely affects its whole range CO2 average in Europe after 2020.” However, there is a ray of hope here, and it would be to turn the little bugger into a rule-circumventing commercial vehicle.
There are rumors that Suzuki will put the Jimny back on the road as an N1 class vehicle, which in the U.K. means that it would be considered a light commercial vehicle. That wouldn’t fix the emissions problem as it stands but would allow the Jimny to skirt CO2 targets. Autocar reports that this change would require the removal of the rear seats and conversion of the cargo area before the Jimny can be considered commercial grade.
The European Union has set emission standards for automakers’ product lines since 2009. The limits are on the average emissions number for an entire manufacturer’s product line and must meet 95g/km of CO2. The manual transmission Jimny’s emissions have been recorded at 154g/km, which bumps Suzuki’s entire product line in the wrong direction. Automatic models are even worse at 170g/km, so there’s an incentive to get the vehicles off dealer's lots in the short term.
A significant percentage of the 1,200 Jimnys that are allocated to the U.K. each year have already been spoken for, and Suzuki says that it will “make every effort to ensure delivery to its customers who have already placed an order.
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