Deliveries of popular 4×4 paused in Australia
Suzuki has ordered deliveries of the Jimny XL to be paused globally, impacting one of Australia’s best-selling 4x4s.
The five-door Suzuki Jimny XL is currently subject to a stop-sale notice globally, extending to Australian examples of the small off-roader.
Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pechora today told Torquecafe deliveries of the five-door Jimny - sold as the Jimny XL locally - had been paused, following a worldwide request from the Japanese carmaker.
“Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) is always reviewing quality control and an operational error, which hasn’t been disclosed to us at this stage, is being investigated and we’ve been asked to put a temporary sales hold on the vehicle.
“We should find out more shortly. This is a business as usual operation that has happened on many products in the past.”
The Jimny XL is exclusively built in India, while the three-door Jimny is produced both in India and Japan, though local stock only came from the latter nation.
It’s the second major announcement for the Jimny in Australia this year, after production of the pint-sized three-door was suspended for Australia earlier this year.
In February, Suzuki announced production had been suspended as the three-door Jimny would not comply with Australian Design Rules, mandating certain performance requirements for autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems.
Though the three-door Jimny is equipped with AEB, its system didn’t meet the requirements of the new regulation. That’s despite its larger five-door Jimny XL sibling being compliant, owing to its more advanced dual-camera system, rather than the smaller model’s single camera.
Earlier this month, Japanese publication Creative Trend reported the three-door Jimny is set to get upgrades from August, which includes the dual-camera system.
These upgrades will reportedly be applied to both the automatic and manual versions of the Jimny, however a price rise is almost certain.
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