How a legend was born

The Jimny DNA: Always shaping new frontiers

This year sees the popular Suzuki Jimny celebrating its 50th anniversary, after making its debut in 1970. Since then, more than three million units have been sold around the world.

The story of the Suzuki Jimny started in 1967. Flailing Japanese car firm HOPE introduced its Hopestar ON360, a tiny 4x4, built to conform to Japanese Kei car (small car) regulations. Unfortunately, there was to be no hope for it… the ON360 was a momentous commercial failure, with only 15 units eventually produced.

Build quality was said to have been horrible, it was unreliable, and the ‘fuel gauge’ was simply a clear plastic pipe that the driver had to keep an eye on. If there was fuel visible in the pipe, the ON360 was good to go… but if there was no fuel visible in the pipe, best the driver started looking for a filling station, fast!

In a last-ditch effort to salvage something from the project, HOPE put the design for its 4x4 up for sale. Suzuki bought the plans for the equivalent of about R6.5-million, in today’s monetary terms. The company’s engineers then set about righting the wrongs of the original ON360. The ladder-frame chassis, solid axles and leaf-spring set-up were refined to improve durability and quality, and also to facilitate mass-production. A Suzuki 360cc two-stroke engine replaced the original Mitsubishi engine, and a new body rounded off the new design. Rigorous endurance testing also ensured optimal reliability, as befits a vehicle from the Suzuki stable.

The Suzuki LJ10 (for Light Jeep 10) went on sale in 1970 – and was an instant hit on the sales floor.

The tough-as-nails little 4x4 could run with the big Japanese 4x4s like Toyota’s Land Cruiser and Nissan’s Patrol in an offroad environment, yet was much easier on the pocket to acquire and run.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 22)