Indian Autos Blog is attending the Mumbai launch of the Swift Dzire today evening. We’ll bring you in-depth analysis on the facts, strategy and marketing in a dedicated blog post.
Prices of the new Dzire have been announced by Maruti Suzuki in New Delhi a few minutes ago.
Maruti Swift Dzire petrol variants and prices (ex-showroom, Delhi)
- LXI – 4.79 lakhs
- VXI – 5.32 lakhs
- VXI Auto – 6.54 lakhs
- ZXI – 6.19 lakhs
Maruti Swift Dzire diesel variants and prices (ex-showroom, Delhi)
- LDI – 5.80 lakhs
- VDI – 6.31 lakhs
- ZDI – 7.09 lakhs
What next?
You can read our review of the 2012 Swift Dzire to know of the improvements and see high resolution photographs.
You can view brochure scans of the new Dzire.
Last week IndianAutosBlog.com got a chance to test drive the new Swift Dzire that is going to be launched today. New? How new is it? Maruti Suzuki claims to have put in 150 new features. The Swift Dzire is already the leader of its segment with a 39% market share i.e. about 3.3 lakh units sold in the domestic market. The company and its vendors have confidently invested over 120 crore rupees towards this full model range.
Is the car as good or better as the old one? Let’s find out!
We’ll answer the most important question first – Isn’t this just a Swift with a bigger boot?
Thanks to one of our readers AR, we’re able to show you brochure shots of the Maruti Swift Dzire notchback that launches today. The vehicle shares its platform with the new Swift and has a tiny boot to qualify for excise duty benefits. The engines and features have also been carried over with subtle changes to the interiors.
The new Dzire, measuring 3.95m in length, is available in a choice of seven colors. It has a 42 liter fuel tank and a turning radius of 4.8m. It may not be a beauty contest winner but the 1.3L diesel engine under its hood returns an impressive fuel economy of 23.4kmpl while the 1.2L petrol gives 19.1kmpl on the manual and 17.4 kmpl on the automatic transmission variant.
click through to see the brochure
Moving on from Maruti Suzuki’s bestselling car in the world to a sales dud that is not doing so well. The A-Star (Alto-star) replaced the Alto everywhere in the world except India.
The A-Star, since its launch, has always been under the shadow of sibling Alto and rival i10. Maruti Suzuki has exported many times the volume it has sold in the Indian market. Since Maruti has two vehicles at similar price points (A-Star and Wagon R), the A-Star always played second filled to its tall boy partner.
For a car that sells every 2 minutes, the Maruti Suzuki Alto is no amateur when it comes to breaking sales records. It has been the bestselling car in India since the Maruti 800 forfeited that title after its parents declared it was too old for it to continue competing everywhere. Our liking for the Alto even made it the best selling hatchback of the world in 2010. And it has done it again!
The Maruti Suzuki Alto outpaced the likes of VW Gol and Fiat Uno to become the bestselling car of the world for the second time in a row. The Alto sold over 300,000 units followed by VW Gol in Brazil at 293,454 units, Fiat Uno (Brazil) at 273,537 units and VW Golf in Germany at 258,059 units. Another gem from Suzuki’s stable – Wagon R completed the top 5 best selling cars of the world.
However, there is a twist in this story. Although Alto bagged the best selling title, its growth rate is losing steam as time progresses. The fastest growth rate was demonstrated by Fiat Uno in Brazil.
Maruti may have not yet finalized the configuration for its mini SUV that relies on the XA Alpha Concept shown at the recent Delhi Auto Expo for its directions, but our image editor Shoeb R Kalania has picked it up and predicted the outcome already.
Maruti Suzuki’s concept cars need not be taken very seriously. The A-Star concept and R3 concept shown at the previous two editions of the Delhi Expo have shaken off most of their signature touches by the time they arrived at a production line.
click through to read on
Thanks to The Hindu/Smart Buy who have tested the new Dzire on the Buddh circuit in the last few days, we’re able to share details here on the vehicle.
1) The ZXi and ZDi trims get 15 inch alloys as opposed to 14 inchers on the old edition.
2) The diesel variants are powered by the same 1.3-liter engine producing 190 Nm @ 2,000 rpm and 75 PS @ 4,000 rpm.
3) The K12 petrol engine lives on delivering 87 PS @ 6,000 rpm and peak torque of 114Nm @ 4,000 rpm.
4) Due to a better power-to-weight ratio, fuel economy numbers have scaled up. The petrol engine at 19.1 kmpl is 6.7% more fuel efficient, and the diesel at 23.4kmpl up from the earlier 21.7kmpl. These are ARAI certified numbers
5) Maruti offers AT on the petrol models – A drop of just 2kmpl is expected.
The chopped-boot Dzire will be launched in the first week of February.
We followed the Suzuki-VW relationship quite closely right from its inception as we expected great things out of it.
However, things did not go as we would have hoped. If you have been following the auto industry with a keen eye, you are well aware that Suzuki has decided to part ways with VW. The implication of the break up is quite clear – Suzuki has signed an agreement with Fiat for the supply of Fiat’s 1.3-liter Multijet four-cylinder to Maruti Suzuki.
