The five-door Suzuki Jimny has just gone on sale in Japan with an optional extra in the boot that will look familiar to new LandCruiser Prado owners.
A new dealer accessory for the five-door Suzuki Jimny appears to ape one of the latest Toyota Prado 4WD’s most controversial design features.
The Jimny five-door has just gone on sale in Japan as the Nomade, a year after arriving in Australia under the XL badge, and sourced from the same Suzuki factory in India.
The five-door’s rear seats do not fold flat with the cargo area floor, so to prevent a ‘step’ that longer items must be lifted over, Mag-X reports Suzuki Japan will offer a 10cm-tall box as a dealer accessory that raises the boot area by 10cm to match the folded seatbacks.
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A similar box is offered on the three-door, but it is built into the car as standard, and lower, so it takes up less space.
The five-door Jimny’s boot box is similar to the latest Toyota LandCruiser Prado, which has an elevated cargo area in Australia due to space needed for hybrid components under the floor.
While the battery and electronics for the mild-hybrid system on Australian Prados are small, Toyota has elected to mount it in the cut-out used for the larger battery in petrol-hybrid models sold in the US, forcing the cargo area to be raised.
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It has drawn particular criticism in seven-seat models, as there is no space for the third row of seats to fold into the floor, so Toyota has fitted a large cargo box to raise the load floor to match the height of the third-row seatbacks when they are folded.
The Jimny option is priced from 29,700 yen ($AU310) in Japan, above the 2,651,000 yen ($AU27,160) base price of the car with a manual transmission.
Drive has contacted Suzuki Australia to confirm if the accessory will be offered locally. It is not listed on Suzuki Australia’s website.
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