What is the Suzuki Swift Sport Doing in India?

Earlier, reports said that Maruti Suzuki was considering the performance-spec version of the Swift hatchback, the Swift Sport, for the Indian market. However, the arrival of the car remained merely a speculation due to the high cost of the hatch for a price-sensitive market like India. Interestingly, the new Suzuki Swift Sport has been spotted in India recently at Delhi Airport and that, once again, leads to a speculation on the launch of the performance-oriented Swift hatchback in India.

We're unsure what this model is doing on our soil. However, there are chances that it's headed to Maruti Suzuki's R&D centre in Gurugram. This isn't the first that an international-spec Suzuki model has been seen in India. It's quite common for the carmaker to conduct road tests of its global products in the challenging road and climatic conditions of our country. In all chances, this particular example of the Swift Sport is here as a part of Suzuki's global road test plans. 

The Suzuki Sport was spotted with a lower yet wider stance along with many more aggressive styling bits compared to the regular vehicle. The hot hatch comes packed with a restyled front grille, a larger front bumper, a split nose as well as lowered side skirts, improving the car’s sporty appeal. The performance-spec version of the Swift features 17-inch dual-tone diamond-cut alloys shod with 195/45 section tyres.

At the back, the sportier Swift comes with black diffuser and two big exhaust pipes. In terms of dimensions, the Swift Sport measures 3,980 mm in length, 1,735 mm in width, 1,495 mm in height along with 2,450 mm in the wheelbase. The car is based on the company’s HEARTECT platform that also underpins many Maruti Suzuki models.

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There aren’t any spy shots showing the interior of the Suzuki Swift Sport but we can confirm that the global hatchback is equipped with some major features like new sports upholstery, flat-bottom steering wheel, red dials together with a lot of racy-red trims. A 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity will be available as well.

The Suzuki Swift Sport sources the power from a 1.4-litre Boosterjet engine that is kitted out with a variable fuel-pressure control system, a pendulum-type mounting system and dual-intake air pressure sensor control system. This engine is capable of generating 138 BHP of max power at 5,500 rpm along with 230 Nm of peak torque at 2,300 – 3,500 rpm. Power is transferred to the front wheels through a 6-speed manual transmission. The car is claimed to sprint up to 100 kmph from a standstill in 8.1 seconds before hitting the top speed of 210 kmph.

Maruti Suzuki remains tightlipped about the plan to launch the Swift Sport in our market. Currently, the country’s largest carmaker is working on a new mid-size SUV and a new C-segment MPV which will be co-developed with Toyota for the domestic space. The company will also launch a locally-built 5-door Jimny in India next year.

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