- Suzuki’s Jimny is an off-road icon, but few people know it also came with a Mazda badge.
- The AZ-Offroad was a Jimny sold with Mazda’s JDM Autozam branding from 1999 to 2013.
- Other Suzuki-built Autozam models include the more famous gullwing JDM kei car, the AZ-1.
Modern cars are so expensive to develop that it’s no wonder rival automakers often decide to team up to pool resources and cut costs, or just pay to slap their own badge on another brand’s `product. It’s thanks to collabs like these that Toyota and Subaru could justify greenlighting the GR86 and BRZ, and explains how at one time it was possible to buy a Mazda Jimny you probably never knew about.
Also: This Tiny Suzuki Just Got A Jimny-Inspired Facelift That’ll Make You Double-Take
Yeah, a Jimny, the bonsai Suzuki off-roader that wants to be a Land Rover when it grows up. Suzuki has been building them since 1970, but between 1998 and 2013 it also made them with Mazda badges for the Japanese market.
A Familiar Shape in Different Clothes
The Mazda AZ-Offroad was based on the third-generation Jimny that debuted in 1998, specifically the version engineered to meet kei mini-car rules. Compared with the export Jimny, which got a 1.3-liter naturally-aspirated, four-cylinder engine, the AZ-Offroad came with a 660cc turbocharged triple that generated the maximum 63 hp (64 PS) allowed under kei rules and a choice of manual and automatic transmissions.
It also got slimmer arches and shorter bumpers, again to meet kei regs, just like Suzuki’s own kei Jimny. In fact the two micro SUVs looked almost identical right down to the grilles, bumpers and wheels, a true case of badge-engineering – much like the earlier Vitara-clone Proceed Levante.
The Ghost of Autozam
But while the the AZ-Offroad wore Mazda’s winged grille badge, the AZ in the name references an earlier joint project with Suzuki. Autozam was a Mazda sub-brand created in 1989 for the Japanese market which focused on tiny cars built with Suzuki’s kei knowhow. The most famous of those in the West is the AZ-1, a pocket supercar equipped with gullwing doors, though Autozam also sold versions of Mazda’s own cars, such as the MX-3, which became the AZ-3.
By 1998 Mazda was winding down the Autozam operation, along with Eunos and ɛ̃fini, which it had also established around the same time. Many of the small Autozam dealers were phased out and Mazda stopped using the AZ branding on new cars, though the Offroad held out until 2014, having received a facelift six years earlier.
While hardly as exciting or collectible as an AZ-1, the AZ-Offroad is an interesting bit of Mazda/Suzuki history.
And, like so many oddball JDM vehicles, a few have made their way to North America. A quick search turned up a couple of 1999 models listed by importer JdmOffroad: one with around 70,000 miles for $12,499, and another with 72,000 miles going for $11,900.
So if you’re looking for a Jimny with a slightly different name and a slightly more obscure badge, your time may have come.
Photos Mazda
Photos JdomOffroad
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