Maruti Suzuki has begun assembling of the Jimny Compact SUV at its Manesar plant in Haryana. According to the experts of the automotive industry, the automaker has already assembled 50 units or so of the SUV from CKD kits imported from Japan.
Maruti Suzuki has begun its trial production and assembly of the 3-door version of the SUV in India and its exports from India will begin soon. For the ongoing production of Jimny, Maruti Suzuki has allotted an assembly line in its Manesar Plant which is quite similar to the one used to manufacture Maruti Suzuki Gypsy.
It is quite clear from the recent speculations that the 3-door version of the Suzuki Jimny is only meant to be exported from India and will not be seen anytime soon in the Indian automotive markets for sale. Although the automaker is expected to launch the 5-door version of Suzuki Jimny later in India and the rumours suggest that it is already under development.
The 5-door version of the SUV would then be a rival to the 5-door version of Mahindra Thar which is under development too. If this model is launched in the Indian markets, it would be received well by the Indian customers as Maruti Suzuki Gypsy was on sale in India for almost 30 years and it is still quite popular despite being phased out.
The Jimny is likely to be powered by the Suzuki K15B petrol engine that manages to produce 105 HP of maximum power. The engine would be paired to a 5-speed manual transmission along with an option for a 4-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. It is also being rumoured that Maruti will also launch the top-end 4×4 Sierra version of the Jimny compact SUV in India at a later stage.