Maruti Jimny is the newest member in the portfolio of the largest carmaker in the country, and people are loving it so far, which is adjudged by the 30,000 bookings received already.
The image you see above is our exclusive rendering of a Maruti Jimny-based Toyota FJ Cruiser. Now, Jimny is a lightweight off-roading SUV that has been a mega-successful product in the international market for a long time. Similarly, the Toyota FJ Cruiser is an iconic compact off-roader in many parts of the world. It remained in production from 2006 to 2022. People looking for a compact and rugged SUV opted for it without a second thought. Toyota has been planning an electric model loosely based on the erstwhile SUV to capitalize on its massive success. But the basis of this iteration is that the joint venture between Toyota and Suzuki has resulted in many badge-engineered products like the Glanza, Urban Cruiser, Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Rumion and Belta.
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Maruti Jimny-based Toyota FJ Cruiser
At the front, one could witness the typical design theme we have seen on the FJ Cruiser for the longest time. There are round headlamps traditionally seen on vintage jeeps and SUVs, a rugged grille frame made of a silver-finished element, a sturdy bumper with fog lamps on either side, and a hardcore skid plate. These bits look pretty much at home with Jimny’s upright bonnet and chunky ORVMs. The turn indicators are attached adjacent to the headlamps, just like on the FJ Cruiser. This is a perfect combination between a Jimny and an FJ Cruiser.
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Even though this rendering is just a figment of the artist’s imagination, we know that Toyota and Suzuki share vehicles by simply swapping the badges and tinkering with the fascias. This is nothing but what you can call ‘badge engineering’. In this case, for India, Toyota benefits from selling popular cars of Maruti Suzuki, while the latter borrows the strong hybrid technology from Toyota. As a result, the customers benefit from products that carry attributes typical of vehicles from these two automotive giants. Toyota has been in the process of shifting to electrification and has showcased the concept of the FJ Cruiser in electric guise. That will take its legacy forward but the idea of a Jimny-based compact SUV for markets like that of India is surely pretty scintillating.
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What We Think
Such digital iterations are great for a visual treat. We can’t see many aspects in the production versions of various cars. However, there are no limits to what a digital automobile artist can imagine. It feels great to experience such modifications to our beloved popular cars, at least in the digital realm. Also, it is often due to such renderings that many new vehicles most of us are not aware of come into focus. For instance, in this case, we focussed a tad bit on the Toyota Electric Cruiser concept that might spawn an FJ Cruiser successor in the near future. We shall keep an eye out for the latest developments with that and keep you abreast with the latest news on the same.
