[Mystic]

I think on this forum, we have talked enough on this subject and there is nothing new that can be added now.

Who are gaining and losing if Jimny is totally pulled out of India as it looks that is the harsh reality now. I can only think of the following points for now and I may be wrong because my thinking may be biased as I am owner of a Jimny alpha automatic yellow dual colour car now.

Gainers:

1. Maruti: They can focus on the export market now and get all the ROI for the money spent for 5 door version.

2. Exclusive club of Jimny owners: The present owners can get the exclusivity that the humans desire in society. Re sale value would be more than the original price.

3. Competitors have one less competition to handle temporarily until another Japanese mini Land Cruiser from Toyota hits Indian roads.



Losers:

1. New generation of 4X4 enthusiasts in India who would get driving license in next few years but unable to buy new Jimny from show room in India.

2. All the Indians involved in manufacturing Jimny in India may feel bad that the car is manufactured in India but enjoyed abroad. This reminds me of some stuff in the garment Industry and IT SEZ specially made for export.

3. Parts may have to be imported formally and hence maintenance costs may be high especially in the scenario of 4X4 usage requires the parts to be replaced frequently.

[MotorDev]

Maruti goofed up big time here. Those idiots were too optimistic about Jimny's price . Forgot about its main rival, the Thar. The Thar costs a bit more but packs a punch with a stronger engine, better off-road skills, and nicer looks. The Jimny? Well, it's not all that comfy, lacks finesse in many areas and its safety remains uncertain. Given these shortcomings, people aren't seeing any compelling reason to justify its hefty price tag. Hence, only 163 units of the Jimny were sold in January.

[ZenMaster]

There is one factor people don't consider here...

The Jimny is only loved by enthusiasts but EVERYONE loves the Thar.

Thar is a hit with the even the ladies of the house. And like anyone with a home minister can confirm, getting their approval is paramount when spending on a car of this price.

Even my mother and sister who has absolutely no interest in cars and considers them as a box with wheels to take them from A to B, said that the "Jeep" (Thar) looks really good. (Without me even asking them)

When I asked them about the Jimny, they said it looks like a toy. It was a Thumbs Down.

[npawan29]

not surprising, I visited Nexa twice and they did not have any car to see or test drive, I believe they would only come in by end of Feb, anticipate the numbers to be super low for Feb as well.

[arjunsatheesh]

Maybe the Jimny will go the Gypsy route and will be a built-to-order car. This is not a bad thing as it's not for everyone.

[KI07]

Maruti has done what Honda did to the Civic in 2012-13, Jimny should be discontinued soon.

[clementw]

Saw the Jimny on the road and it gets dwarfed by the other SUVs on the road. It has almost no road presence. If it will look like the Spresso's big brother it has to be priced adjacent to that IMHO.
Pity, so many in the forum waited excitedly for the car but Maruti priced it out of reach

[Mad Max]

That's how most folks feel, I guess. It is a fantastic car for some unique sliver of the market. But hoping it will set the charts on fire is just plain blind ambition.

[EshanS]

We often blame the product several times - its small, its compact, its not exciting as the Thar, its not powerful either and much more. For one moment, let's just accept all these flaws/view points/observations and see beyond. IMHO, Maruti Suzuki made a big blunder with its pricing. For a 4X4 that size and powerful engine Alpha variant should have been max at 11.09 Ex Showroom. Anything beyond that would or is going to be greedy.

I feel the Jimny is a compact 4x4 with all bells and whistles to go overlanding/off roading but the price bracket that it is sitting just doesn't feel right or do justice to the ones ruling this industry - Thar!

MSL got the right product at the right time with the wrong costing.

[RDS]

Originally Posted by clementw

Saw the Jimny on the road and it gets dwarfed by the other SUVs on the road. It has almost no road presence. If it will look like the Spresso's big brother it has to be priced adjacent to that IMHO.
Pity, so many in the forum waited excitedly for the car but Maruti priced it out of reach

Not really. Only size doesn't define road presence and I drive a Jimny as my daily driver.
Coming from Fords, Skodas and older Zen, I find Jimny great and had many apprehensions before getting one.

I am one of those people who always wants to look very ordinary. I don't hanker for any attention but Jimny has done the opposite for me.

People in my locality, on roads where I park the car, on red lights notice the vehicle. Well, there are people who even twist their necks almost 180 degrees to take a good look . I am amazed how much a neck can turn actually now!!

A lot has been said and eventually it is all coming to 1 point - Wrong Launch Pricing!

[JaiHanuman]

In and around Chennai I have seen some Thar 5 door mules being test driven from Dec/Jan onwards. People are waiting for this version to hit the market, this could be another reason for the such a drastic drop in Jimny sales.

[pgsagar]

163 units a month? When was the last time we saw a Maruti sell under 200 copies of a car a month? Even the least selling model from the usual backbenchers like Stellantis, Nissan, Renault probably sell more.

It's not hard to see why. A friend almost signed on the dotted line when I told him to take a test-drive before he jumped right in. And that changed everything. He was willing to look past the diminutive size, look past the high price, petrol-only option and poor FE but one test drive and he quietly walked away. No matter how you look at it, that 1.5 NA engine and 4-speed AT combo is stone age. Sure, it shines off-road but you've got to drive it in normal traffic, some time. Or, for most, most of the time. People are spoiled by performance of turbo-diesels, turbo-petrols and that new-kid-on-the-block, EVs. Jimny would have done well in pre-Thar days. They delayed.

Maruti should pull the plug on it before it fades into oblivion like Kizashi did, because it appears to be in a tail-spin now and recovery looks impossible. They have a good export market anyway. Arrival of 4-door Thar will only make it worse. Lastly, I think Maruti was right all along that there is no market for Jimny in India. The reason why they launched it everywhere in 2018 but not here.

[Zanskar]

I don't understand this obsession with road presence and that too polarised towards butch and burly looks with modified angry bird headlights.

I think Jimny has ample of road presence, it looks different amongst the sea of pseudo SUV's. It looks cute and I think that's a positive. Over and above it has this old world charm when cars were purpose built and were sold on their ability and not based on sunroof and ambient lighting and what not.

As far as it being underpowered is concerned, yes it can always do with more power but its still not going to win any drag races. Try driving a MT Jimny and shift gears around 3.5-4k rpm and you will be surprised, not by the speedo but how much fun it is to drive it enthusiastically. The AT box definitely needs a throttle controller though.

As far as sales tanking is concerned Maruti will definitely switch to made to order mode or worst case will stop the sales completely. In both cases one thing is for sure that in years to come the Jimny in India will become a cult vehicle and current owners in rarity of selling their beloved Jimny will get more money than they paid for.

[getgoing]

Jimny's slow offtake was primarily due to two factors. First, Jimmy's intended positioning as an off-roader limited its appeal to city SUV users. Second, Maruti is preferred by people in both rural and urban areas due to its affordable pricing. Jimny entered the Indian car market at overpriced at the time when it was launched

[@PetrolheadASH]

The Jimny is a capable city runabout with good off-roading capabilities. Sadly MSIL messed up not only the pricing (read greedy) but also in pitching it against the Thar and on top of that, gave bad build quality, cheap interiors and a lot of dealer attitude. If they want to save the Jimny, MSIL needs to:

1. Bring this down to the 10 lakh price bracket.
2. Stop the Thar comparison. Create its own advert niche. Focus on the youth.
3. Increase the interior Kit. Better fit and finish.
4. Change the engine. Remove that pipsqueak motor.

But then when did MSIL ever listen!!