Report: Toyota wanted a rebadged Suzuki Jimny

Toyota and Suzuki have long been practicing badge engineering amongst their models. In recent times we saw both companies come up with interesting vehicles such as the Grand Vitara and its T-badged Urban Cruiser Hyryder twin, as well as the Innova Zenix and the Suzuki Invicto.

Both companies practice this partnership as it proves to be a win-win in terms of leveraging the economies of scale and giving their customers more options across various price points while having a much lower investment compared to developing a bespoke model.

But despite this, there are still some models that both Toyota and Suzuki would like to keep to themselves. In a recent report, it turns out that Toyota allegedly wanted to badge engineer Suzuki’s iconic baby 4x4, the Jimny.

For Toyota, having their own Jimny in the lineup would give their customers a cheaper 4x4 alternative to the likes of the Fortuner and Hilux. On the other hand, this could give Suzuki a big boost in sales of the Jimny since the hype of the baby 4x4 has simmered down since it was first launched.

However, Suzuki has politely said no to Toyota’s request. A Suzuki source told Autocar India that “It’s like asking Toyota to let us badge engineer the Land Cruiser. Models that are at the heart of our brand are not meant for sharing and both companies respect that".

So while the world was denied of a Toyota-badged Jimny, there’s still a 4x4 that we could watch out for from the Japanese auto giant – the rumored Land Cruiser Mini.