Inaugural Jimny Gathering brings 800 Suzuki Owners Together in Clarens

Scheduled over South Africa’s Heritage Weekend, Suzuki’s inaugural Jimny Gathering brought 800 owners of the popular 4×4 together in a festival of food, music and craft.

Image: Suzuki

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If you have been tuned into our social media channels, you would be well aware that our Editor Damian Adams was part of this novel event joining several other media professionals and Suzuki head honchos in a jaunt across KZN. Travelling to the Langkranz Farm just outside Clarens, Adams was also able to drive one of the few 5-door derivatives that are currently in the country to its display at the Jimny Gathering. Despite being a prized model for homologation in South Africa, it tackled all the same roads, trails and terrains that the other Jimnys had to travel through.

Related: Suzuki Jimny 5-door Officially Debuts in SA

After debuting at the Festival of Motoring a few weeks ago, Suzuki took the opportunity to provide hundreds of Jimny, SJ, Samurai and LJ owners with a first-hand preview of what the versatile model with an extra set of doors was all about. The Eastern Free State location home to the first-ever Suzuki Safari Town Festival and Jimny Gathering saw over 800 Jimnys in attendance from the 22nd of September to Sunday the 24th of September.

Related: Suzuki’s Jimny 5-Door is Almost Here but What Will it Rival?

With the impressive collection of models all in one place on Sunday, all the attending Jimny owners joined together to set a new world record for the most vehicles to switch on their lights simultaneously. By aiming for, and breaking, this record, Suzuki was able to accommodate the many SJ, LJ and Samurai owners who also attended.

Jimny Gathering

Image: Suzuki

Brendon Carpenter, Brand Marketing Manager of Suzuki Auto said: “We had an official representative from the Guinness World Records on site, and he confirmed that we broke the record with 787 Suzuki vehicles that switched on their headlights at the same time.”

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Witnessing this was Suzuki dignitary and Manager of the Automobile Styling Department at Suzuki Motor Corporation; Hisanori Matsushima, who penned the new 5-door model which continues to whet the appetites of off-road enthusiasts ahead of its local launch.

Carpenter adds “It was a privilege to host Matsushima-san at the South African Jimny Gathering. While he is well versed on the global success of the Jimny, it was great to introduce him to the fun and friendly South African Jimny fans and show him how his creation is used by adventure-seeking fans to explore every corner of our beautiful country.”

The new Jimny, which is slated for South African release in the fourth quarter of this year, also popped in at the Suzuki Safari Town Festival in Clarens. Stay tuned for a full driving impression of putting the model through its paces!

The post Inaugural Jimny Gathering brings 800 Suzuki Owners Together in Clarens appeared first on CAR Magazine.


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