Six airbags & a new engine: Maruti Suzuki drives in new Swift

livemint.com:

₹6.49 lakh ex-showroom. It launched the new Swift with six airbags as a standard offering across all its variants, marking a change in the carmaker's stance, and after fighting back regulation that could potentially make six airbags standard equipment in cars. The Swift also debuts a new Z-series 1.2 liter engine, the most fuel-efficient in its segment, with a claimed fuel efficiency of up to 25.75 kmpl.

Maruti Suzuki has said it will launch all new models with six airbags as standard hereon, and address regulation-related fuel efficiency mandates by offering the new Z-series engine on more of its products. Despite a softening of market for hatchbacks, Maruti Suzuki aims to reinvigorate interest in this segment, and draw in young buyers seeking safety and connected car technologies at competitive prices. "The Swift model is very important for Indian markets and for the export markets.

We see new customers are also showing interest in the Swift. It is a good time for us to revamp the hatchback as customer consciousness of safety, environment, and fuel efficiency is becoming high," said Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director, Maruti Suzuki. In FY24, the industry recorded about 1.2 million hatchback sales, with Maruti Suzuki capturing 67.5% of the market with sales of 810,000 units.

The Swift itself sold over 195,000 units during this period. The company's focus, however, will continue to shift beyond hatchbacks. The company may not launch any new hatchback models in the near term as the market stays muted, but will keep on reviving our portfolio to keep appealing to a large existing customer base seeking to buy their first cars.