We gotta wait a little more for the Jimny

MANILA: Hasn’t it been quite long since the Philippine International Motor Show 2018 happened? Suzuki displayed the all-new Jimny which was in its fourth generation at the event. Result? The Jimny lovers got all excited and have been waiting for the launch ever since. However, Suzuki Philippines is too keen on testing our patience. Latest reports suggest that the highly awaited Jimny will be launched in the country only in the third quarter of 2019.

While we see things from our end, Suzuki is having some genuine reasons behind the delay. For starters, the new Suzuki Jimny is being built at Kosai plant which is the only dedicated factory for the 4x4.

Moreover, the Japanese automaker is not able to meet the demand of Jimny in its homeland, let alone other countries. The waiting period in Japan for the Jimny is as long as one year. That is some really long waiting period, isn’t it?

Midst the issues, Suzuki is trying hard to speed the production and meet the demand of the Jimny. “In our home market alone, the waiting period for a new Jimny has increased to more than one year. To keep up with the demand, our Kosai plant has increased production output.

That way, we can deliver the units in Japan faster, as well as export the new 4x4 faster in other markets besides ours,” said Keiichi Suzuki, who is the General Manager for Automobiles in Suzuki Philippines.

Suzuki also said that the manufacturer is in no mood of assigning another plant for the production of Jimny in or out of Japan. “While it would greatly help in meeting customer demand, we would like to maintain the Japanese build quality that has made the Jimny a tough and reliable 4x4.

Also, if we shifted production elsewhere, our local suppliers will also have a hard time shipping their components to another factory, not to mention the added costs of logistics,” he added.

With Suzuki trying to increase the production at the Kosai plant, we believe that Jimny might just make its way to the Philippines a little earlier than the third quarter of 2019. And even if that doesn’t happen, the third quarter of 2019 is not too far either. Patience is important, as they say.

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