The Suzuki Jimny likely to replace the discontinued Maruti Suzuki Gypsy from the Indian car market, to be manufactured by Suzuki Motor Corporation Plant in Gujrat
Maruti Suzuki Gypsy has been discontinued by the manufacturer in the Indian market and it is expected to be replaced by the all-new Suzuki Jimny SUV. The fourth-generation, all-new Jimny has been launched in the international markets including European markets and the Japan market earlier this year.
Earlier, the launch of the Suzuki Jimny was ruled out from the Indian market but according to a new report, Suzuki may utilise its Indian plant to manufacture the all-new SUV. The all-new fourth generation Suzuki Jimny is getting unsual demands in the UK market and the Suzuki is unable to handle such a high demand causing waiting period to increase.
Suzuki UK has stopped taking the bookings for the all-new Jimny as the waiting period for the current bookings has crossed more than one year. The Jimny is also extremely popular in Japan where it falls under the low-tax rules and is priced very attractively. Currently, Suzuki is manufacturing the Jimny only at its Kosai, Japan facility and is exporting it to the markets around the world while trying to meet the domestic demands.
To overcome the long waiting period problem, Suzuki may start to manufacture the Jimny at a second plant, which is likely to be Suzuki India’s Gujarat plant. Maruti Suzuki India is already investing in increasing the size of its Gujarat plant and plans to infuse Rs. 9,000 crores on it to increase its capacity by 7.5 lakh cars.
The expansion plan will be completed by 2020 and the facility will be ready to accommodate the growing demand of the brand on a global scale. Currently, the Gujarat plant can produce 2.5 lakh cars annually. After ruling the vehicle out the all-new Jimny’s launch initially, Maruti Suzuki may just launch the vehicle when and if the production starts in India.
There has not been any official word from Maruti Suzuki or Suzuki Global on the matter yet. However, the Gypsy will be forced to be discontinued from the Indian market from 2020 after the new safety rules set-in and the Jimny would serve as a perfect replacement in the Maruti Suzuki’s line-up.