Maruti Suzuki Gypsy officially DISCONTINUED

Maruti Gypsy! it is probably the first vehicle that comes to our mind when we think of an off-road SUV. The Gypsy has a cult following among the off-road community in India. A sad news for them is that Maruti Suzuki has now officially discontinued the Gypsy SUV from their line up. This information has been officially conveyed to Maruti Suzuki dealers by the automaker through an official email. 

Here is the email that clearly states that Maruti Suzuki would no longer be producing the Gypsy, and that dealers should not accept any further orders for the same. The Gypsy has been a made-to-order SUV for years now, and with dealers stopping bookings, the legendary off roader has just gone into the sunset after more than three decades of continuous production in India.

Maruti Suzuki has taken down the webpage featuring Gypsy from their Arena website. Strangely they have not removed the pricing yet and it is still available on the website. When launched in 1985, Gypsy was the third vehicle to be offered by Maruti Suzuki in India. First was the SS80 hatchback and second was the Omni passenger van.

Gypsy was offered not just in India but also internationally. It was known as Samurai or SJ410 in other markets. It was famous among the off-road community because it was easy to maintain, looked rugged and had a go anywhere attitude.  It is still used by armed forces and police forces in various states.

On the outside, Gypsy remained unchanged for all these years. It had that same boxy looking SUVish exterior. Once Maruti gave it a minor facelift and named that model Gypsy King. Only upgrades given to Gypsy were in terms of engine.

The Gypsy was initially launched with a 970-cc which it shared with Maruti 1000 sedan. Later a 1.0L petrol engine was added and it was available for a decade before upgrading it to a 1.3L petrol unit. The 1.3L engine later got fuel injection in 2000 as the emission norms got stricter.

The 1.3L fuel injected engine had a power output of 80 Bhp and 104 Nm of torque. The Gypsy was only offered with a petrol engine. The Gypsy is built on a ladder on chassis frame. It is a rear wheel drive vehicle with the part-time 4-wheel drive system. The 4-wheel drive transfer case has both low and high ratios.

The main reason behind the discontinuation of the legendary Gypsy SUV is the upcoming stricter safety and emission norms. It will be very expensive too-expensive for Maruti to re-engineer it. Other reason was this that with rising competition in the segment it looked very outdated. Even at this modern age, it doesn’t come with power steering and air condition as standard. Maruti had stopped the mass production of the SUV a long time back and if anyone wanted one, then he/she had to get in touch with the dealers and had to make full payment.

Internationally Gypsy has been replaced by its successor Jimny and just like the legend it is also getting popular among the enthusiasts. However, we have not received the Jimny SUV yet in India. With the Gypsy getting discontinued it is likely that Maruti might offer Jimny in India at a later stage to fill the gap left void by the legendary ‘Gypsy’.

Via Team-BHP