Swift headed to Indian shores

[johnjacob]

Hey Team-BHP members,

The Suzuki Swift is coming to India. You can see some more information on the Swift here and here.

I am in Paris at the moment and I saw the Swift at the Mondial de l'Automobile. It is a lovely looking car and has been designed looking at the European market, so it should be refined and handle well. It has a strong BMW-Mini look, which is to me a good thing (gosh, I love the Mini!). It has nice spacious interiors, but marred by dark plastics and dark fabrics (let's hope they select a lighter and more colorful fabric for the subcontinent).

The Swift has three engines --> 1.3L petrol (85bhp/114Nm), 1.5L petrol (101bhp/133Nm) and 1.3L turbo-diesel (70bhp/170Nm). The diesel was co-developed with Fiat and is the same engine that is found in the Panda (another car that may possibly come to India).

I never thought I would buy from the big bad monopoly, but this is a car that pushes all the right buttons for me. I will return to India in December, but I'll probably wait a few months for a new MARUTI Swift.

So, what do you guys think will be :

1) the pricing? My guess is 4.5-4.75 Lakhs for the base petrol, 5.25-5.5 Lakhs for the bigger petrol and the diesel. Interestingly the Maruti chairman Jagdish Khattar seems to indicate the diesel may not come to India.

2) the performance? Did you guys notice the diesel has more torque than even the 1.5L petrol? How does more torque relate to acceleration?

3) the features? Will the Swift come with the very nice-looking integrated CD-player shown in the pictures? Any other features they may decide to cut for the Indian market?

What do the Team-BHPians say?

Regards,
- John

[Dippy]

Hey john

Great to have news from Paris. How did you enjoy the show? There has been raves bout the Swift here to it being a brand new model being launched MUL in years and not just a face lift. IMO they should have introduced this car as a replacement to the Esteem. We all know the Esteem was anyway known as the Swift in the international markets.

My guess is that maybe just maybe this current facelift Esteem is just a temperory thing till the Swift comes to India. Hopefully they should phase it out then and get the new Swift. If they launch 2 petrol version it will virtually also go into Baleno territory.

Diesels from MUL have not really sold but that could change with the Swift with Maruti hoping to set up a diesel engine plant. I just hope they get the diesel as well

Dippy

P.S john can we have some pics from the show if you have some

Cheers

[johnjacob]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Dippy @ Oct. 15 2004,17:03)]Hey john

Great to have news from Paris. How did you enjoy the show? There has been raves bout the Swift here to it being a brand new model being launched MUL in years and not just a face lift. IMO they should have introduced this car as a replacement to the Esteem. We all know the Esteem was anyway known as the Swift in the international markets.

My guess is that maybe just maybe this current facelift Esteem is just a temperory thing till the Swift comes to India. Hopefully they should phase it out then and get the new Swift. If they launch 2 petrol version it will virtually also go into Baleno territory.

Diesels from MUL have not really sold but that could change with the Swift with Maruti hoping to set up a diesel engine plant. I just hope they get the diesel as well

Dippy

P.S john can we have some pics from the show if you have some

Cheers

Hey Dippy,

The motor show was great - I really loved it! Unfortunately no pics because I don't have a camera That's my big regret now - I should have bought a camera for the show alone! Unfortunately electronic items are exorbitantly expensive here.

The Economic Times article states that the Swift would be launched as a premium hatchback. While it would be nice to have a sedan version as an Esteem replacement, I haven't heard of any such under development (it could be there, though). Personally, I'm a big fan of hatchback's and would love for the hatchback to come to India. Let's hope they bring the diesel as well as the petrol versions.

Regards,
- John

[GTO]

The swift without that delicious JTD 1.3 diesel engine will be as boring as the Getz without a CRDi. C'mon, Indian manufacturers, dont you want to sell cars with character? And with the latest technology?

Apparent Maruti upped its game after Hyundai launched the Getz. As previously the Hyundai was competing with Maruti in the same segment. But the koreans have now created a segment of their own.

Either ways, its great news. The Swift is the best compact Suzuki so far. Bring 'em on Maruti. Change our perception of you as a dead outdated manufacturer.

GTO

[Deeps]

Well i saw the swift too but unforunately didn't take any pics (don't ask why 'cos i don't know). But it didn't look very good by suzuki standards. However what i found more impressive was the Liana. If only MUL had launched this instead of the esteem in June. But having said that, i saw abt 8 of them within the first 10 days of the launch. So, i guess it makes sense to give the people what they want.

Some pics of the Liana from the Autoshow:








Not sure. But is this the swift?

[Deeps]

Ohh, it is the swift!! why didn't i just read the livery?

[Shan2nu]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]2) the performance? Did you guys notice the diesel has more torque than even the 1.5L petrol? How does more torque relate to acceleration?

yes, Diesel engine aka high compression engine are usually expected to produce more torque than a Petrol engine with equivalent engine capacity. The high comp ratio and a longer stroke make this possible.

But torque alone doesn't affect acceleration. Sufficient torque produced at high rpm results in an increase in power which helps the car accelerate better.

Shan2nu

[johnjacob]

I prefer the Swift to the Liana. The Swift is a brand new design, whereas the Liana has been around for a few years (I read about it in Auto India way back when), and has tacky plasticky interiors. BTW, Liana stands for Life In A New Age.

The Swift looks great in 3-doors. I know they won't bring that model to India, but if they did, WOW!!

Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming... Time for me to wakeup!

[GreenHex]

It'll be another filthy overpriced car on our roads...

mvk

[v12]

The new Swift will definitely compete against the Getz and Fusion. I guess the Swift will replace the Zen. What remains to be seen is what will it be named? Swift? No i dont think so. Swift = Esteem = Baleno across countries. Zen? Not sure. Its a completely new design and they wudnt name it Zen. So a new car with a new name.

If the Swift replaces the Esteem, then obviously it wudnt take Suzuki long to add a boot to the car (like the Liana).

So what do u think? What goes out? Esteem or Zen?

[SLK]

Swift will probably cost 4.75+ (seeing the getz)... so with a boot it will enter Baleno's territory. And then I am afraid maruti might discontinue Baleno and not esteem, something like they did to Alto 1.1.
So better swift remains swift and doesn't become a replacement to anything at all.

[Deeps]

yes, i totally agree with SLK that the Swift will eat into the sales of one of MUL's current Models. i think its most likely to be the Esteem because of the price range. But i doubt that the esteem will be discontinued as the 'new' model was launched only this year.

[johnjacob]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (v12 @ Oct. 21 2004,14:42)]The new Swift will definitely compete against the Getz and Fusion. I guess the Swift will replace the Zen. What remains to be seen is what will it be named? Swift? No i dont think so. Swift = Esteem = Baleno across countries. Zen? Not sure. Its a completely new design and they wudnt name it Zen. So a new car with a new name.

If the Swift replaces the Esteem, then obviously it wudnt take Suzuki long to add a boot to the car (like the Liana).

So what do u think? What goes out? Esteem or Zen?

While the Swift is in the same price range as the Esteem, they are not direct competitors since they are in different segments (premium hatchback vs basic sedan). The Swift cannot replace the Zen since it will be much more expensive than the Zen (besides, Maruti never replace any of their models even obsolete - think M800!). As for naming, other than Team-BHP'ians - who are very much in the minority - most Indian car-buyers neither know nor care what the same model is called in other markets (besides, Suzuki is calling the Swift the Swift in Europe even though there is an Esteem-derivative called the Swift in the US). The only conflict I can think of for Maruti is if they add a booted version of the Swift - that would compete against the Baleno.

Therefore my prediction is that, the Swift will be available only in hatchback form, and will be priced to compete against the Getz.