The new Swift should boost Maruti Suzuki's fortunes in a big way...
In recent months, Maruti Suzuki’s once-dominant position in the hatchback segment in India has come under serious attack. Cars like the Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra, Chevrolet Beat and revised Hyundai i10 have all pushed their way into Indian consumers’ hearts and minds while Maruti offerings have been sidelined on account of being a bit stale. And now, with Toyota and Honda also preparing to launch their own hatchbacks – the Etios Liva and Brio respectively – in the country, things aren’t about to get any easier for Maruti anytime in the near future.
Of course, Maruti isn’t exactly sitting around twiddling its thumbs – the Indo-Japanese giant is quietly working on a series of new products that will take on the best that the Europeans, Koreans and other Japanese companies have to offer. And the first of these is very likely to be the all-new Swift, which may be launched in August this year. First launched in India in May 2005, the Swift has been a huge success story for Maruti, with the company selling more than 300,000 units of this car in India in less than four years from the date of its launch.
Very soon, the current Maruti Swift will make way for an all-new version, which is a bit bigger overall than the outgoing car. Styling changes aren’t dramatic and that’s probably because of the fact that the Swift has already managed to carve a strong identity for itself – something that few cars in this segment have been able to do. For those interested in numbers, the new Swift is 90mm longer, 10mm higher and 5mm wider than the existing car and has a 50mm longer wheelbase. In India, the new Swift is very likely to get higher-spec trim material for its interiors, compared to the current Swift. Safety features like anti-lock brakes (ABS) and airbags will definitely be on the options list, and there might also be features like Bluetooth connectivity and steering wheel-mounted controls for the music system.
The new Swift will be available with a 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litre common-rail diesel engines, both of which will be adequately powerful and reasonably frugal. The 1.2-litre K-series engine will be the same unit which also does duty on the Ritz, but may get variable valve timing for the Swift, making it a bit more powerful. A five-speed manual gearbox is expected to be standard on both the petrol and diesel models, though we certainly hope Maruti will also offer a five-speed automatic as an option. If they do, the Swift will have a clear edge over the competition since very few hatchbacks in India have automatic transmission.
Another thing about the Swift is that it’s always been an enthusiast driver’s car – it isn’t overtly powerful, but the taut, sharp handling makes driving this car a pleasure. With its carefully tuned chassis and suspension, the existing Swift boasts of excellent driving dynamics and in this area, we expect Maruti Suzuki to only improve things even further with the new car.
The existing Maruti Swift is priced between Rs 4.35-5.65 lakh, ex-showroom, and we believe Maruti will more or less stick to this price bracket for the new Swift as well. Expect to pay about Rs 4.60 lakh for the base model petrol version and approximately Rs 5.30 lakh for the base model diesel, for the new Swift. Yes indeed, if you’re in the market for a new hatchback, the new Swift could well be worth waiting for.
