Maruti Suzuki Swift RS Special Edition launched

Maruti Suzuki's June 2013 sales figures have been slow what with the country's largest car maker registering a 12.6 % dip in the number of cars it managed to ship out to dealers across the country. Known to launch Limited/Special Edition variants of its cars to boost sales when the going gets slow, Maruti Suzuki has gotten into the act again. 

The Swift hatchback, one of the briskest selling cars in the Maruti Suzuki range, has jumped on to the "Special Edition" brigade.  The car's VXi (petrol) and VDi (diesel) models get a host of cosmetic embellishments and features. RS, an abbreviation for Rally Sport, is usually used to denote high performance cars.

Cases in point are the multiple generations of Octavia vRS car models, which are essentially souped up, high performance versions of the regular Octavia. In the Swift's case, the RS moniker is limited to a styling treatment to make for a sportier appearance, and a few other feature additions. 

Under the hood, things remains unchanged, which means that the 1.2 Liter K-Series petrol engine and the 1.3 liter Fiat Multijet fixed geometry turbo diesel engine continue to do duty on the RS edition of the Swift. Suzuki does offer higher performance variants of the Swift with more powerful engine options in the international market under the Swift Sport badge. 

The RS accessory pack is priced at 24,500 rupees. Maruti claims that the Swift equipped with the RS kits will be on sale for a limited period of time. Meanwhile, here's a list of the features that the Swift with the RS badge gets, 

• 3-piece body kit consisting of front and rear bumper inserts, and a roof spoiler
• Black and blue body graphics 
• Black wheel covers
• Blue paint finish for the wing mirrors
• Illuminated Swift nameplate on the door sills
• Black and blue art (synthetic) leather seats
• RS branded floor mats
• Stereo with CD, AUX and USB playback