New version of Suzuki’s smallest rock hopper is potentially set to sell without a crash test score.

HOW important official crash ratings are seems set to be tested by a new off-road-attuned Suzuki that has just been released here.

Almost every vehicle on sale here has a safety rating from one to five stars, meted by an independent specialist, either the twinned Australasian or European New Car Assessment Programmes.

It is unusual for a new model to arrive with the distributor expressing uncertainty theirs likely won’t have that sign-off.

However, that is the ‘worst-case’ scenario Wanganui-based Suzuki New Zealand is facing with the five-door version of its popular Jimny rock-hopper.

A new derivative of a light off-road car Kiwis have known in three-door form since 2019 doesn’t have any safety credential - and might not ever.

The best case for the five-door Jimny is that regulators determine it can piggyback the three star rating given the three-door, which is mostly but not completely identical.

If that largesse occurs, it’ll be temporary.

The three-door’s score, which Euro NCAP determined then ANCAP subsequently adopted, becomes obsolete at the end of this year, a result of the latter organisation having decided safety scores have a use-by date of six years. Jimny three-door’s was issued in 2018.

The only remedy would be for the five-door car to be retested, probably by ANCAP as this part of the world is where it exports to.

But that exercise is not cheap and is in Suzuki Japan’s hands. Local sentiment is that they will decline.

The final hope is an utterly outside chance. That Jimny might win a safety accreditation from RightCar, which was set up to decide crash test ratings for Japan-specific cars that arrive here as used imports.

Going without any credential won’t keep it from going on sale, but will buyers mind?

It’s something Gary Collins, Suzuki NZ’s general manager of automobile sales, says will be monitored closely.

He says his brand wants to sell the safest cars it can get, and also acknowledges ANCAP plays an important role.

However, the six-year rule is hard on a make that famously prefers production cycles of at least a decade.

An exception to that is the Swift small car, which is their biggest seller by far, achieving 3922 registrations last year.

A new generation model is coming to NZ in June to replace the current car, which received five stars from ANCAP in 2017.

Jimny is not expected to threaten Swift, but SUVs and crossovers are important to Suzuki NZ and cumulatively account for most business.

Jimmy five-door has been predicted to achieve 800 sales this year, a tally that’ll see it running evenly with the three-door; that’s despite initial shipments being restricted to just the manual version.

Pre-release demand for that $40,990 model, and a $44,990 automatic, has been high. Collins says SNZ has received 1000 forward orders. Some are owners of the current three-door (which continues in $31,990 to $39,500 formats) seeking more space, some are owners of other Suzukis but many are newcomers to the brand.

ANCAP and Euro NCAP scores are highly valued by fleets, including those run by Government departments, which rarely consider cars with less than five stars.

Suzuki’s release activity will include special launch events for customers, an off-road day excursion in the South Island high country next month then a meet at a North Island off-road centre.

ANCAP has been the centre of controversy lately through headline actions of meting a zero score to a Mahindra off-roader and this week determining the updated Tesla Model 3, just released here, cannot have the five star score given to its predecessor.