Suzuki Australia says its dealership network has been vocal about getting the new Jimny off-roader into showrooms as soon as possible.
Hosting AutoTalk at the launch of the all-new Jimny at the Melbourne 4×4 proving ground, Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pachota says the brand’s dealer principals have been “screaming” to get their hands on stock.
“The Suzuki Jimny is a cult icon and as soon as it was announced to be coming to Australia we’ve had dealers crawling over each other to get it into their showrooms, especially in our rural dealerships,” he tells AutoTalk.
The new Jimny will be on sale from Australia Day, January 26, when pricing will be announced, but Suzuki says pre-orders have been so high there is a growing waiting list.
“With huge global demand, a one-year back order in Japan where it was first released and rapidly growing pre-orders in Australia of about 350, if they keep going we’ll probably be looking at a waiting list of over a year, which is a good problem to have in some ways,” Pachota explains.
“Our rural dealers have been screaming for Jimny in those regions which love off-roading; to be honest it’ll be a piece of cake selling to those customers because they’ve indicated they want it,” he adds.
Pachota says he personally had conversations with Suzuki Motor Company in Japan to guarantee stock would be available in a reasonable timeframe for the enthusiastic 4×4 market Down Under.
“Australians are obsessed with four-wheel drives, dual-cab utes, practical cars, so we had a market begging for the return of the Jimny and it means concepts like the five-door and ute body shown at the Tokyo Motor Show cannot be ruled out for us,” Pachota reveals.
“A Jimny ute is definitely not to be ruled out for Australia, that’s a vehicle the agricultural side of Australia has a need for,” he says.
“It’s an exciting time and we can feel the excitement in the dealer network; some salespeople were getting a little stale because we hadn’t had the return of such a heroic vehicle like the Jimny in a while,” he says.
Meanwhile, Suzuki Australia says there are currently no plans to further grow its dealer franchise footprint, saying the current brand spread across Australia is sufficient.
“We’re very happy with the 95 dealer partners we have on board as we head into 2019,” Pachota says.
“The current footprint means we’ve filled all the holes we needed to for the arrival of Jimny and the new Vitara to offer maximum customer convenience.
“We’ve got some ambitious sales targets and we’re poised for a strong year.”
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