Maruti Suzuki to launch all-new Swift at Auto Expo 2018

Suzuki Motor Corporation today revealed the all-new Swift for the European market at the Geneva Motor Show. It is learnt that the hatchback will be launched in India by early 2018. Codenamed YSD, it will be built on what Suzuki calls an all-new platform different from the one used by the more India-centric Baleno and Ignis.

Keen to keep the sporting character intact, this new platform – codenamed 'Heart-tect' – will be much stiffer, and even lighter (890kg), than the one used by the Baleno. This will allow it to deliver extremely sporty dynamics that, according to Suzuki insiders, will be more in line with the first-generation Swift than the more ‘rounded’ current car – good news indeed.

The car that will be sold in India will be a heavily localised version of the European and Japanese car (the new Swift will be the only Suzuki car manufactured in India, Japan and Hungary). Tuned to be driven on our roads, it will have a much higher ground clearance which could spoil the stance a bit but will have features and options more suitable to Indian tastes. The new Swift will also have a more mass-market focus than the Baleno.

Maruti is in fact so keen to give the Swift a wider appeal that it will resist the temptation to sell it through Nexa dealers. The main reason for this, according to Maruti, is the limited reach of its more upmarket dealership. While there are currently around 200 Nexa dealerships nation-wide, the current count of regular dealerships stands close to 1000.

While it still isn't clear what spec the car will be launched with in India, what is clear is that, probably at a later stage, the Swift will be powered by the new Boosterjet direct-injection turbo-petrol, and that the car will come in automatic form, both for petrol and diesel powered versions.  

The Swift, which is Suzuki’s flagship compact car, has sold more than 5.4 million units worldwide since its launch in 2004 as a world strategic model.