Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) on Thursday launched the much-awaited third generation Swift, priced between ₹4.99 lakh and ₹8.29 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The starting price is exactly the same as predicted by BusinessLine in an article last month.
While the petrol variant is priced at ₹4.99 lakh to ₹ 7.29 lakh, the diesel variant is pieced between ₹5.99 lakh and ₹8.29 lakh (all ex-showroom).
The company said it has already received bookings of more than 40,000 units as of Thursday. To meet the demand, it had shifted Swift’s production to Hansalpur, Gujarat from Manesar, Haryana.
Baleno, which was being made in the Gujarat plant has been shifted to Haryana, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO of MSIL, had told this newspaper in an interview last week.
Game-changer
The Swift is not only an iconic brand for the company, but also the first premium hatchback that changed the game for MSIL and the industry after its first launch in 2005.
The model development cost for the latest Swift is over ₹700 crore. The hatchback comes with around 98 per cent localisation, truly embodying the Make in India vision, the company said.
The all-new Swift comes with a new design, enhanced performance and advanced passenger, pedestrian and child safety, it added.
For the first time, Swift offers the auto gear shift technology.
Built on Suzuki’s innovative fifth generation HEARTECT platform, the all-new Swift has a superior power-to-weight ratio with an improved acceleration performance, MSIL said.
“Brand Swift is loved for its bold stance, strong shoulders and unmistakable road presence. With this latest evolution, these hallmark features have gone to the next level. Since its launch in 2005, Swift has been the country’s favourite hatchback, selling more than 1.8 million units,” Ayukawa said here at the launch. It is more spacious and loaded with new features that are poised to thrill customers, he added.
“Brand Swift has featured among the top five best-selling cars in India for more than a decade. I thank our customers for their strong support. I am confident that with the all-new Swift, we will succeed in capturing the imagination of our customers and offer the car which meets their demands.”
The all-new Swift offers best-in-segment fuel efficiency for both the engine options; 22.0 km/l for petrol and 28.4 km/l for diesel (13 per cent higher than outing Swift), the company said.