The Jimny, Suzuki’s all-weather, four-wheel drive off-roader, was introduced globally in 1970. It went on to become one of the longest surviving vehicles in the world, with sales topping 30 lakh units till date across nearly 200 countries.
Gypsy was rolled out of Maruti’s Gurgaon plant in 1985 and became popular with civilians, the Armed and paramilitary forces (such as CRPF and BSF) and state police.
The Gypsy, which sold over 1.7 lakh units in India, had to be phased out towards the start of this decade as sales dwindled and the company thought it was wiser to take it off, instead of engaging in cost-heavy and difficult upgrades when the BS4 to BS6 emission changeover happened.
With Jimny, which at 3,995 mm is about 10 mm shorter in length than Gypsy and carries a 1.5-litre petrol engine, Maruti has similar off-roading expectations. It has garnered pre-bookings of over 30,000 units and comes with a five-door option (global models come with three-door versions). It will be priced around the Rs 10-lakh mark (ex-showroom) at launch on June 7, though company officials insist “it can cost a little more since a four-wheel drive powertrain comes as a standard”.
The company will accord more importance to performance than simply fuel efficiency with Jimny since it’s a rugged off-roader, said Shashank Srivastava, director (marketing & sales) at Maruti Suzuki. Mahindra’s Thar is currently the leader in the mainstream off-roading category and sold around 47,000 units last year. “We hope to double the size of this category with launch of Jimny as the off-roading capabilities of Jimny are famous across the world.” Armed forces, paramilitary and police departments had been loyal buyers of the Gypsy till it had to be phased out.
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