Maruti Suzuki Swift is now India’s best selling car

The Maruti Suzuki Swift is now India’s best selling car, ahead of the likes of the Dzire compact sedan and the Alto budget hatchback. In May 2019, Maruti Suzuki dispatched 17,039 units of the Swift to dealerships across India. The Maruti Alto managed 16,394 units while the Dzire could do 16,196 units. The latest numbers for the Swift represent its highest figures in a while, and underscores the fact that the hatchback remains very popular among B-Segment buyers. The Swift competes with the likes of the Hyundai Grand i10 – a car that’s due for a full model change later this year, and the Ford Figo , which recently got a facelift that effected both mechanical and aesthetic changes.

The Swift sold in India is the 3rd generation model, and was launched early last year, during the 2018 Indian Auto Expo. Right from launch, the Swift raced to the top of its segment’s sales charts, and has remained there across the past year and a half. The hatchback is based on the HEARTECT platform, which makes it one of the lightest cars in its class.

While this platform is shared with the Dzire and a slew of other Maruti Suzuki cars, the Swift gets interiors that are quite different from that of the Dzire. The mechanical bits are similar though. Like the Maruti Dzire, the Swift is available with both petrol and turbocharged diesel engines. Both manual and automatic gearbox options are offered on both the petrol and diesel engines.

The petrol engine in question is the 1.2 liter-4 cylinder K-Series unit that makes 82 Bhp of peak power and 113 Nm of peak torque. This engine is known for its impeccable refinement, rev-happy nature, reliability and also good fuel efficiency. In fact, the K-Series petrol is the benchmark in its class. The diesel engine is the 1.3 liter Fiat Multijet turbocharged unit with 74 Bhp-190 Nm on offer.

Both engines get a 5 speed manual gearbox as standard while a 5 speed AMT is offered as an option. This makes the Swift the only car in its class to be available with both petrol and diesel automatics. Notably, Maruti plans to discontinue the diesel powered Swift from April 2020, when the Bharat Stage 6 emission norms kick in. A mild hybrid option is likely to be added to the petrol engined variants. Prices of the Swift start from Rs. 4.99 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi for the petrol variants while the diesel starts from Rs. 5.99 lakhs. All variants of the Swift get dual airbags and ABS as standard safety features.