Twisted Automotive to Take on the Suzuki Jimny

Twisted Automotive (with a reversed ‘S’) is a Yorkshire-based custom vehicle modification company founded by Charles Fawcett. Growing up, Charles was surrounded by Land Rovers and has subsequently been involved repairing and selling these vehicles for quite some time. Twisted was originally set up as a sideline while Charles working for his father’s business – the company would offer tuning for the likes of the Defender, Discovery and Range Rover.

In 2008, Twisted became Fawcett’s full-time business, building on a fine reputation for modifying Land Rover along with other 4×4 vehicles. This year, Twisted announced that it would take on the popular Suzuki Jimny to see what might be enhanced and improved.

One of the reasons the Suzuki Jimny is so popular is that is a reasonably lightweight and deceptively capable machine. While around 101bhp for the top end models might not sound much, the Jimny’s kerb-weight of just over 1,200kg means that it wouldn’t take much of a power increase from a standard 4-cylinder, 1.5-litre engine to make a Twisted Suzuki Jimny an exciting and intriguing proposition. What makes this small off-roader so popular apart from having a decent weight, is that it can also boast impressive approach and departure angles, thanks in part, to being only 143.5-inches long.

As a canvas to paint on, the Jimny makes an excellent choice for Twisted, and I am looking forward to seeing what they do with it. While it isn’t quite a blank canvas, there is much that can be done to improve the off-roader.

The Suzuki Jimny has a rather nice on-trend retro design that came about almost by accident. Suzuki in designing the Jimny looked to keeping costs under control, and what might have seemed mildly dated a few years ago has proved to be a look that has grown in popularity for an off-roader more and more as the years have passed. That boxy look screams classic, tough, and utilitarian. Meanwhile, the Jimny interior offers Twisted quite a bit to work on – the standard interior is certainly at the basic end of the spectrum. Let’s face it, the best spec you are likely to get on the Jimny might be the heated seats. But less tech also means there’s less to go wrong, and thus basic can also be quite good – another plus point for the popularity of the Jimny.

Twisted isn’t the only company to take a long hard look at the Jimny of course, and there are plenty of aftermarket conversion kits out there – maybe Twisted even got inspired by seeing the ingenious and tasteful offerings from the excellent Japanese company DAMD when it comes to the little off-roader. DAMD certainly gives any Jimny owner some interesting options for individualising the perfectly proportioned and capable 4×4.

We don’t yet know what Twisted plans to do, but it doesn’t take a genius to expect that more power and uprated suspension plus visually striking alloys will make up part of the exterior. Inside, we can expect improved soundproofing and a beefed-up sound and infotainment system – along with a little more luxury.

Images: twistedautomotive.com, damd.co.jp