This time there seems to be some certainty about it! The launch time for the replacement of India’s most loved big hatch has almost been decided. Although the buzz about the launch of the new 2011 version of the Swift hatch in India has been on for months together now, with speculations suggesting launch dates from as early as March. This time, however, there is some substance to the buzz, as there has been an official activity. Maruti Suzuki seems to have decided to draw curtains on the current version of the Swift. The dealers are not taking the bookings anymore, which means that the new version is waiting somewhere around the corner to be introduced. When asked, one of our friends who owns a huge Maruti Suzuki dealership in Pune confirmed that the company has, indeed, decided to discontinue the current model. The news would come as a dampener for those who have got the delivery of their Swift recently, but should sound like music for those who have been waiting for the new version.
The ne Swift is expected to hit the roads sometime in August. Sources indicate that the car was slated for a launch slightly earlier than that, but the recent strike at Maruti’s plant in Gurgaon derailed production, and thus the launch schedule.
The new Swift is a substantial improvement over the current version. It’s bigger, better engineered, and is said to handle better. The engines, however, remain the same, with the 1.2 K series engine reported to have been tweaked a little for better efficiency.
We are expecting a slight increase in price for the new Swift, amounting to upto 5 %, though nothing official has come out in this regard.
