CARS OF THE WORLD

Suzuki Jimny 2022.

Yomper: new pickup truck based on old Suzuki Jimny from British engineers.

British startup Yomper has presented a curious cargo conversion on the base of Suzuki Jimny SUV of the third generation.

The pickup is offered in two modifications — utilitarian Commercial and tourist Bergan.

The company Samson Engineering Limited from a small English town Elland (West Yorkshire) is behind the startup Yomper. It has 40 years of experience in designing and manufacturing car trailers and all kinds of add-ons for special vehicles.

Several years ago, the general manager of this company Giles Walker thought about making an inexpensive pickup truck for people from the British hinterland — his clients repeatedly told him that they could not find anything suitable on the market.

It took about three years to develop a pickup based on the third-generation Suzuki Jimny, because Giles approached the matter thoroughly and wanted to make an impeccable product of its kind.

Why the «third» Jimny and not the more recent «fourth,» Yomper’s press release doesn’t say.

We suppose the choice is caused by the fact that there are a lot of «third» Jimny in the secondary market and they cost inexpensively, but there are few «fourth» ones.

Recall that the «fourth» Jimny debuted in 2018 and immediately became scarce due to a rush of demand around the world, and in early 2020 sales of this model in Europe had to stop due to stricter environmental legislation.

In the fall of that year, the Jimny returned to the market, but already as an N1-class commercial model without rear seats.

Alas, sales of this version were quite modest: in the first three quarters of this year, according to the analytical agency JATO Dynamics, only 356 examples were sold in Europe.

It is clear that all Jimny of the third generation in the secondary market are in this or that degree battered by life, so the power unit and the running gear are completely overhauled in the process of conversion.

Suspension gets a number of modifications to achieve payload capacity of 500 kg: new, custom durable springs and more energy-consuming shock absorbers are installed, ground clearance is increased by 5 cm, disc brakes are installed instead of drum rear brakes.

Chassis parts, frame and underbody are sandblasted and received a new anti-corrosion coating.

A new stainless steel exhaust system is installed instead of the old one.

The Yomper pickup can be offered in two versions.

Utility Commercial has a wide aluminum body (its dimensions go beyond the size of the cabin, which required the installation of new mirrors) and three tailpipes, this version can be ordered with a standard (2250 mm) or extended (2750 mm) wheelbase.

The Bergan Lifestyle version has a standard wheelbase combined with a greatly increased rear overhang, the body is visually unified with the cab and has a two-tone paint scheme, and the entire usable area is equipped with a protective anti-slip coating.

All conversions are approved for use on public roads.

Minimum price is just under £20,000 (1.9 million rubles). The warranty is 1 year.

We should add that last year, one of the New Zealand dealers of Suzuki introduced a utilitarian pickup based on the Jimny of the fourth generation.