Maruti relaunches 'Swift'

In the last six years Maruti sold 6 lakh Swift cars and yet, there is a 2 to 3 months waiting period for the car. On Thursday, the company launched the new version of Swift in the City at an aggressive introductory price starting from Rs 4.39 lakh for the petrol version and Rs 5.16 lakh for the diesel version (both ex-showroom Bangalore).

With over 140 new features, the new Swift offers best in class acceleration, high power to weight ratio and much improved fuel efficiency, the company claimed.  Built on an all new platform, the new Swift is wider, longer and up to 30 kg lighter than its predecessor.

By reducing the weight of the car, Maruti engineers enhanced the power-to-weight ratio in the new Swift, which, in turn, has raised the fuel efficiency by 6 per cent in diesel and 4 per cent in the petrol. The company, along with its suppliers have invested around Rs 550 crore in developing new Swift.

Though Maruti will be using the same 1.2 litre K-series petrol and 1.3 litre CRDi diesel engines in the new Swift, the company has tweaked them for better performance. The 1.2 litre VVT petrol engine delivers torque of 114 Nm @ 4000 rpm and power of 87 ps @ 6000 rpm.

The 1.3 litre DDiS diesel delivers torque of 190 Nm @2000 rpm and power of 75 ps @ 4000 rpm. With the launch of new Swift, the competition in the premium compact car segment (Maruti has 30 per cent market share in this segment) is bound to increase.

This segment is already very competitive with cars like Hyundai i20, Toyota Liva, Ford Figo, General Motors Beat and U-VA, and Volkswagen Polo. Soon Honda will be launching its hatchback ‘Brio’ in this category. “Competition is good for us. We are leaders in the segment and have a third of the market. More noise people make, the leader benefits more,” said Maruti Suzuki India Limited Executive Officer Pankaj Nerula.

Maruti also announced that it already has booking for 50,000 units of new Swift cars and will ramp up its production from 12,000 to 18,000 Swift cars in a month by the end of the year.