Team-BHP - The Suzuki Swift Sport (not coming to India)

If this rumour (about Swift Sport getting launched in India) were a child - soon it would have been old enough to get voting rights. :Frustrati

Suzuki is planning on putting the K15B into its D segment sedan. I have seriously no hope now that they will put the 1.4 Boosterjet into a Swift in India.

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4440289)

Car companies are waiting for the govt to allow a larger consignment of imports without homologation to launch some of these niche models. If the new relaxed FBU rules come in, it makes it very easy for Suzuki to bring its overseas vehicles.

On a side note I don't see the Suzuki Swift Sport coming to India for the simple reason that the 'sportive' needs of the Indian car buyer can be addressed by the 1L Boosterjet. The spec that will be imported from Japan would be very expensive and I think Maruti has learned from Vitara, XL7 and Kizashi not to make the mistake of introducing over-priced vehicles. The Swift is a strong brand and does not need any help in my opinion. I would not say the same for the Baleno though, as there is a premium distribution channel and it's still early days for this brand as a hatch.

New Suzuki Swift Sport take the Moose Test.

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these maneuverability tests says the Swift is e softly spring and has a longer steering ratio and inspire confidence and provide an ample sense of control behind the wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=s5KCGLCDcDc

Maruti Suzuki rules out SWIFT SPORT for India. Too expensive is the reason as the 1.4l boosterjet will not be a viable proposition.

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The Swift Sport on the other hand, would end up being too expensive. The 1.4-litre Boosterjet turbo-petrol motor alone would drive costs up a whole lot. Maruti Suzuki India has already burnt its hands once with the S-Cross 1.6; and thus, it prefers to be safe than sorry. Again, much like the small personal off-roader segment, the hot hatch space too is relatively nascent. There are a handful of options in the market including the Punto Abarth, Baleno RS and the Polo GT - none of which are doing particularly well in terms of sales.

Link

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Originally Posted by volkman10 (Post 4447622)

Maruti Suzuki rules out SWIFT SPORT for India. Too expensive is the reason as the 1.4l boosterjet will not be a viable proposition.

Nothing new! :deadhorse

Since Maruti is anyways the market leader - I wonder what makes them so risk averse! The failure of the SCross 1.6 seems to have spooked them even more than before.

Is anyone actually surprised?

If Maruti are still skeptical that people will pay good money for a solid, well-differentiated product, there will never be a 'sporty' Maruti except gaudy RS sticker jobs.

Market 'sales' leader, and nothing else really counts so why bother.

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4447629)

Since Maruti is anyways the market leader - I wonder what makes them so risk averse! The failure of the SCross 1.6 seems to have spooked them even more than before.

There is a huge demand for the existing Maruti models so much so that many of them have long waiting periods. Now it doesn't make financial sense for them to launch new models which are aspirational and expected to have low sales numbers (even though margins might be good). These new models would eat up the assembly line which can be used to cater the demand of the successful models.

So while VW keeps the GT twins alive even with low sales numbers (GTs must be bringing in most sales by percentage out of total sales:D) Maruti pulled the plug on SCross 1.6 which, I am assuming, had similar sales numbers.

Maruti has done this in the past as well. Stopped producing models which sold <2-3k units per month. Hence, my thoughts above.

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR (Post 4447629)

Since Maruti is anyways the market leader - I wonder what makes them so risk averse! The failure of the SCross 1.6 seems to have spooked them even more than before.

Absolutely! Considering that the Indian market is literally their breadwinner they should be showcasing the full product portfolio; unfortunately they lead the step-motherly treatment for the other manufacturers to follow.

The majority of enthusiast (so called) community in India is thankless, too demanding, have shallow pockets and cannot be relied upon. The feedback that these enthusiasts give at customer clinics and expos is mostly fake. All the enthusiast cars launched in India (over which these enthusiast drool and salivate upon) fail miserably, as the enthusiast just want to get him clicked with sports car, and take test drives but do not buy. Maruti being Maruti, knows this pretty well, and do not fall into enthusiast blabber trap.
Abarth, Baleno RS, Fiesta S, GT TSi, etc. are all market flops.

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Originally Posted by chaudh2s (Post 4447750)

Maruti being Maruti, knows this pretty well, and do not fall into enthusiast blabber trap.
Abarth, Baleno RS, Fiesta S, GT TSi, etc. are all market flops.

What I understand is Baleno RS does an average of 1000 units /month which maybe a flop to Maruti Suzuki's standards.
But being a market leader they can afford to take the risk and cater to the small 'enthusiast community' initially and make the community grow:)

But I know the reality here is the production capacity and Maruti has no dedicated assembly line to spare for Swift Sport or Jimny nor it has time for development due to the BSVI plans, EV program, Toyota JV etc.

Why don't they manufacture these two cars at the Toyota plant ?

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Originally Posted by volkman10 (Post 4447752)

What I understand is Baleno RS does an average of 1000 units /month which maybe a flop to Maruti Suzuki's standards.

Maruti Suzuki is unhappy with Baleno RS selling 1000 units while all variants of Polo pull 1500 units together, GT TSi might be 200-odd units. If cars like Abarth and Polo did 1000 units, the execs would party for a month non-stop!

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But being a market leader they can afford to take the risk and cater to the small 'enthusiast community' initially and make the community grow

I don't think Maruti Suzuki is interested in that. They are happy selling what customers want and apparently there is no market for sportier cars. Even after sitting at 50% market share, Maruti Suzuki is still happy playing safe bets.

Measuring performance-oriented car sales with the 'mass market' success scale is an exercise in futility.

These cars will never sell in tens of thousands, and one would think Maruti makes enough money on the mass market variety to be able to bear the cost of a couple low-selling models. Can be made to order in batches, so no issues with inventory piling up either.

India is Suzuki's biggest market globally, and not only don't we NOT get their best cars, we don't even get the best iteration of what they actually sell here.

They aren't alone in playing the 'we meet all regulatory requirements' game, mind you, but I can't suppress a chuckle every time someone calls them the market leader. They lead from the front in almost NOTHING except sales.

A company run solely by bean counters, futile to expect they'll ever cater to the small percentage of enthusiast customers.

I am not sure everyone is seeing the right picture - with the current pricing itself, Swift is in the dangerous territory flirting with the 10L mark (at least in Bangalore for some variants). With a new performance version (a reasonably genuine one at that), the price will easily breach the 10L bracket (in most cities) and may reach the 11L too.

Will any of the "enthusiasts" be willing to pay for that? I, personally might plonk my money on the Figo Sports with the VFM nature; some others (with budget for Swift Sports) might be flattered by the Polo GT with the lightning quick DSG (added comfort). Swift was never known for quality interiors either - so that's another negative from premium customers.

I had my Swift for 5.8L OTR in 2008 (Kerala) and I can't digest the fact it costs atleast 50% more in 10 years - I simply don't see anything worthy of it. The car is still not a great build, budget interiors, and no bl**dy change in the engine output in 10 years.

Edit:: But it's sad how Maruti never bothers to change the perception of a budget brand and introduce some niche products just for brand building. Most of us complain about the high service costs because we still see Maruti as a cheap (to own) brand not worthy of a premium billing. They are only good in making their cars lighter and stretching the FE numbers