Maruti Suzuki to debut the new Swift at the Auto Expo

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It's official! Maruti Suzuki will celebrate the Indian premiere of the new Swift at the 2018 Auto Expo. The carmaker has officially started accepting bookings for the much-anticipated hatchback in the country with a booking amount of Rs 11,000.  

The Indian-spec Swift will be available in four trims – L, V, Z and Z+ across 12 variants with two engine options. The transmission will be a five-speed manual as standard while the AMT will be available only in the VXi/VDi and ZXi/ZDi trims. The engine options remain the same – the K12 VVT petrol engine and DDiS 190 diesel engine. 

Based on the new fifth-gen HEARTECT platform, the new Swift is bigger yet lighter than the outgoing car. The new platform which already underpins the Baleno, adds strength and rigidity, boasts the carmaker. The wheelbase is 20mm longer while the new hatchback measures 40mm wider, all translating to an increased cabin space. Despite the increase in footprint, the hatchback loses 40 kilograms compared to the earlier model. The boot space has been increased by 58 litres to 263 litres. There are six body colours to choose from – a new Prime Lucent orange, SLD Fire red, PRL Arctic white, Prime Midnight blue, Met Silky silver, and Met Magma grey

Appearance wise, the new Swift is thoroughly modern with its LED bug-eyed headlamps with projectors, floating roof design, wraparound taillights and stylish two-tone alloy wheels. The cabin seems to be carried forward from the Dzire. The flat bottom steering wheel, touchscreen infotainment system with Apple Car Play, Android Auto and Mirror Link connectivity, navigation, voice recognition and reverse camera are all part of the feature list. On the safety front, the new Swift will come equipped with dual airbags and ABS with EBD and ISOFIX as standard fitments.

Under the hood is the same powertrain of the outgoing car without any change in power output. The petrol engine is the 1.2-litre K-Series with 83bhp of power and 114Nm of torque, while the oil burner is the trusted 1.3-litre DDiS producing 75bhp of power and 190Nm of torque. The more potent RS variant is on the cards, but that will come later.

The new Swift will continue its fray with the likes of the Hyundai Grand i10, Honda Jazz, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Figo, Hyundai Elite i20 and its stablemate, the Baleno. Post the Auto Expo debut, the car will promptly go on sale in India with a slightly higher price tag than the car it replaces.