Suzuki Australia has issued a stop-delivery order for the Suzuki Jimny five-door with immediate effect, with dealers across the country instructed by the automaker to cease all deliveries of the iconic compact off-roader until further advice from the automaker’s head office in Japan.
Attracting a cult-like following, the Jimny is Suzuki Australia’s best-selling model, more than doubling the sales of the Swift hatch, the Japanese small-car brand’s next most popular model so far this year.
It’s also one of the more popular entrants in the light SUV segment, in which it competes with the Mazda CX-3, Toyota Yaris Cross and Hyundai Venue.
In a dealer bulletin issued on Friday (July 25) and seen by CarExpert, Suzuki retailers were instructed to stop all deliveries of the Indian-built Jimny XL five-door – not the Japanese-made Jimny three-door – including showroom stock and warehoused vehicles, with no specific reason issued.
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“We haven’t told any customers to get off the road, so it’s not a safety concern,” Suzuki Australia managing director Michael Pachota confirmed to CarExpert.
Speaking at the launch of the Suzuki Fronx, Mr Pachota said the stop-delivery order will continue for the foreseeable future and played down the impact it may have on dealers and customers.
“We were informed by Suzuki Motor Corporation, as we have been informed in the past about other products as well, that they constantly review quality control everywhere in every plant,” he said.
“Based on an operational error, they’ve decided to do a hold on sales, just to review that, investigate that. They’re going to let us know when we can switch back on.”
The specific reason for the stop-delivery order was not disclosed, but Mr Pachota suggesting several possibilities for it.
“We’ve done this from time to time with different products,” he said. “It could be as simple as someone, you know, finding a nut on the floor in the factory and going, oh, what’s this from?”
The current Jimny attracted significant waiting lists – as long as 18 months – when the fourth-generation was launched in Australia in 2019.
Year-to-date, local sales of the Jimny – three-door versions of which are set to bring a safety upgrade to match the five-door in early 2026 – are down 7.3 per cent, and the cessation of deliveries should see that figure grow.
Among other models in its lineup, Suzuki Australia confirmed in February 2025 that the three-door Jimny didn’t meet newly introduced Australian Design Rules (ADR) outlining specific technical requirements for autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems.
At the time, it said investigations were underway into making the popular off-roader compliant and that its “position on this product” had “yet to be confirmed”.
Sales of the Jimny, along with other Suzuki models that fell afoul of the new ADR, have continued as the automaker secured sufficient stock complied before March 1, 2025, when ADR 98/00 came into effect.
The Jimny XL is understood to be unaffected by the new ADR because it features a stereo camera instead of a forward-facing monocular camera, allowing it to offer both adaptive cruise control and night-time pedestrian detection.
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