India's largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, has launched the fourth generation of its popular hatchback - the Swift. Since its launch, Swift has been a blockbuster hit in the Indian and global markets. Prices of the fourth-gen Swift start at ₹6.49 lakhs for the base LXi variant and go up to ₹9.64 lakhs for the top-end ZXi + DT variant. The car was showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show last year, and ever since then - it has been highly awaited to be launched in India. Now, the cat is finally out of the bag, and here's everything you need to know about the fourth-gen Swift.
The new Swift does not radically look different from the outgoing one. However, a few subtle changes make it look fresher and more modern. The car's front fascia now gets a redesigned grille with the logo embossed just between the bonnet and the grille. It gets new headlamps with beautifully looking LED DRLs around it. Another recognizable change on the Swift is the new design for alloy wheels, and those rear door handles that used to be placed in the C-pillar are gone. From the rear, it is still simple and pleasing to look at with the redesigned C-shaped tail lamp and bumper. The overall silhouette of the hatchback and the subtle design changes do not make it quite different, and it's still recognizable as Swift.
In terms of dimensions, the wheelbase has remained the same at 2,450mm, whereas the length of the car has gone up by 15mm to 3860mm. The width now stands at 1735mm, and the height at 1520mm.
On the inside, the fourth-gen Swift gets a complete makeover, wherein the dash layout looks similar to that of the Fronx. It has a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, 4.2-inch instrumentation, a restyled HVAC control unit, and AC vents. The cabin does get new upholstery and a host of features which includes-wireless phone charging , push start-stop function, rear AC vents , auto climate control and more. The safety package includes 6-airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, Hill Start Assist as standard across all variants.
The 4-gen Swift gets a new heart—a 1.2-litre, Z12E, three-cylinder engine that produces 80.5bhp of peak torque and 111.7Nm of torque. The engine comes mated with either a 5-speed manual or a 5-speed AMT, and the ARAI claimed fuel efficiency for the manual version is 24.8kmpl and 25.75kmpl for the AMT unit.
The new Swift directly competes with the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios. However, given its launch price bracket, it is pretty competitive against micro SUVs like Tata Punch and Hyundai Exter, whose prices vary from ₹6.13 lakh to ₹10.20 lakh and ₹6.13 lakh to ₹10.28, respectively.