- Render In New Colours

With Suzuki adopting RAV4 and Corolla in international markets and Toyota adopting Baleno and Brezza in India, the partnership between the two Japanese automakers has been up and running very well. Recently, we saw Toyota launching Vitz in South Africa, which is a rebadged Maruti Celerio.

With both having an eclectic mix of products with minimal segment overlaps, the scope of this product / platform sharing arrangement is quite wide and deep. So, if we take the immensely popular Suzuki Jimny mini off-roader and give it a Toyota face, the resulting product may be a bit far fetched but not an impossibility. Maruti recently launched the new Jimny 5 door in India. Bookings have already crossed the 15,000 mark.

Maruti Jimny meets Toyota FJ Cruiser

We wondered how a rebadged Toyota Jimny would look and our design specialist Pratyush Rout materialized our thoughts in the form of this speculative rendering. Before we proceed, please note that neither Toyota nor Suzuki made any statements about the possible existence of such a product in the pipeline.

As you can see, the Suzuki Jimny's retro-classic and boxy styling adopts Toyota FJ Cruiser inspired headlamps, grille and bumper surprisingly well. Going by the existing examples of rebadging between the two brands, should they choose to share the Jimny, the front fascia will be the only element to be restyled.

Will there really be a Toyota Jimny?

The three-door Suzuki Jimny is being produced in Japan as well as India. It has a huge order backlog from across the world with waiting periods in some markets extending beyond 8 months. Maruti Suzuki is getting ready to commence production of the 5 door Jimny in India.

Naturally, Suzuki would be focusing on catering to its customers before thinking about sharing such a product with iconic brand recall. The top management may look at rebadging the Jimny as a dilution of its brand value, and hence it may not happen at all.

However, if at all a Toyota's version of Jimny manages to see the light of day, then it would give the Japanese automaker access to a lucrative niche in the global market.

It would sit below the new Toyota Yaris Cross as a lifestyle product. With its compact footprint, good off-road credentials, fuel efficient engine and a no-nonsense appeal, the Jimny has garnered a huge fan following.

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