The new-gen Maruti Suzuki Swift is clearly one of the most-awaited car launches of 2018. Expected to go on sale in India in the next couple of months, some of the Maruti Suzuki dealers have now started accepting bookings for the car for Rs. 11,000. These are still unofficial bookings that are being accepted at the dealership level and official bookings are yet to commence. We spoke to Maruti Suzuki dealers in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, out of which selected ones have been accepting bookings for the car. They have told us that the new Swift will hit showrooms by the end of February or early March 2018 and might open to a waiting period of 3-4 months.
Also Read: 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift Review
New Maruti Suzuki Swift is based on the company's new HEARTECT platform
Also Read: New-Gen Suzuki Swift Review
Interestingly, Maruti Suzuki has already stopped the production of the previous-gen Swift hatchback and dealers have confirmed that the dispatches have stopped. One of the dealers we spoke to even told us that Maruti Suzuki India will be announcing a price hike across model range in the next couple of days and after that, they'll get to know more about the official bookings of the car. Furthermore, some of the dealers have also stopped taking bookings for the older model and are right now, while others are working on emptying their existing stocks. In fact, the car was recently spotted in India ahead of launch.
Also Read: Exclusive Review - Suzuki Swift Sport
New Maruti Suzuki Swift Rear
Also Read: 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift Bookings Officially Open In India
As for the car itself, the new-gen Maruti Suzuki Swift will be based on the company's new lighter and rigid HEARTECT design platform, which also underpins the new-gen Dzire that was launched in India last year. The new Swift also gets a major design and styling overhaul with new bold single-frame grille flanked by the bug-like headlamps with projector units and LED daytime running lamps and LED taillights. The car also gets new sportier alloys, a floating-style roof design with blackened B-pillar, and new front a rear bumper. The new Swift will also get an extensively updated cabin similar to the Dzire with a flat-bottom steering wheel, new infotainment system and other improved features.
Also Read: New-Gen Maruti Suzuki Swift Hybrid Review
Under the hood, the Maruti Suzuki Swift will continue using the same 1.2-litre K-Series petrol and 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engines, but dealers tell us the latter will now come with the company Smart Hybrid From Suzuki (SHVS) technology. Furthermore, one of the dealers even told us that in addition to the 5-speed manual gearbox, the car will now also get an automatic option, equipped with the company's tried and tested AMT unit - Auto Gear Shift (AGS), in both the petrol and diesel models. The car will come in a total of four manual transmission variants and three AMT variants. Having said that, these details are yet to be confirmed by the company, which we expect will be made official at the upcoming Auto Expo 2018.
