Everything you’ve heard about Maruti Suzuki in the last three months has been negative. Strikes, sacking of employees, allegations of pay-offs, sagging sales, launch of Hyundai Eon and delay of new models has affected the company’s morale.
The only good thing we can point out is the launch of the new Swift which generated record breaking bookings, crossing the 1 lac mark within a couple of months. It proved that a strong product always generates demand.
Maruti Suzuki is working overtime on increasing output at the Manesar plant
Now the problem was that the bookings and production could not be synced because of the problems at the manufacturing plant which resulted in a waiting period of over eight months for a new Swift. Though small in number, many customers cancelled their bookings and went ahead with a rival product.
The good news is that almost all the problems have been resolved and the company is back on track concentrating on how the Swift can reach more homes. Once the second line at Manesar becomes fully functional in January 2012, 18,000 Swifts are expected to roll out every month. With this, the plant output will go up from 1,400 units a day to 2,100 units a day. Recruitment of manpower is also going on in full swing.
With such plans, MS hopes to clear the existing backlog of the Swift by April 2012. This will not just bring relief to those who have already booked a Swift but will also bring in new customers who avoided the Swift due to the extremely long waiting period.
Maruti Suzuki said it lost a mere 2% of bookings for its Swift model to rival companies. The 2% share includes other models in the Maruti portfolio such as the Ritz and Dzire. Production of the new Swift has been troubled by repeated worker strikes at the manufacturing plant. On the day of its launch, about 50,000 people had already made their bookings mounting pressure on the production lines right from Day 1. The current booking number stands at around 1 lakh.
Due to stretched waiting periods, companies in recent times have lost a large share of bookings to rivals. The goodwill of the Maruti brand is seen as a main reason for customers holding on to their initial decision. If customers have remained unfazed by the situation or the extra waiting period, it is saying something. The customer patience reinstates that the Swift is still the boss of B segment.
Suzuki will start selling the Swift Sport in Europe from October. The sporty avatar is distinguished by a new bumper at the front, new side skirts and a roof-mounted spoiler. A sport-tuned suspension, dual exhaust system, HID headlamps and 17 inch aluminium wheels other differences. Step inside and you are greeted by the sports seats, new instrument cluster and sporty pedals.
The 1.6-liter petrol engine produces 134 hp and 160Nm of torque which is delivered to the wheels through a 6 speed manual transmission.
The suspension setup of the Sport is stiffer to provide the car with better cornering ability. Amazingly the car still remains quite frugal and returns 37 mpg.
Doesn’t Maruti Suzuki see a business opportunity for the Sport model as a large number of Swift buyers go for performance mods on their cars? If not the full monty, Maruti must introduce a 5-door sport variant better suited for the Indian market.
As we just complete posting images of the new Swift from the Delhi premiere, we’re getting live updates from our Mumbai man Kaustubh who tells us that Maruti has launched the Swift there. Here are the prices -
New Maruti Swift petrol Mumbai prices
LXI – 4.50 lakhs
VXI – 4.91 lakhs
ZXI – 5.78 lakhs
New Maruti Swift diesel Mumbai prices
LDI – 5.36 lakhs
VDI – 5.81 lakhs
ZDI – 6.62 lakhs
By this morning Maruti had registered 50,000 pre-launch bookings in dealerships across India. Shockingly 80% of the bookings were for diesel variants while the remaining were gobbled up by petrol. That clearly shows the how much diesel takes precedence over petrol variants.
Maruti Suzuki India launched the much awaited next generation Swift at the company’s headquarters in the capital city this morning.
The new Swift is an all new car and the company says it incorporates over 140 new features and panels. Built on an all new platform, the succeeding Swift is longer, wider and more spacious than its predecessor.
The new Swift has hit some dealer yards and proof for our claim is attested below. On the Maruti Swift Facebook Page, user Rohitash Sinha posted these pics of the Swift diesel test drive vehicles captured from a Maruti Suzuki dealer yard.
The new Swift bows in on the 17th of this month (the same day as the new VW Jetta). Maruti Suzuki has worked out a better Swift by adding more features and increasing capacity back at the factory. However that said, waiting period will be around three months unless you own a dealership or know someone who does very closely.
Variants of the new Swift along with the equipment has been discussed in depth in an earlier post. The Swift petrol is driven by a 1,197cc engine producing 87PS/114Nm while the 1,248cc diesel engine (Fiat sourced) coaxes out 75PS/190Nm.
Maruti has posted the first official image of the new Swift on its Facebook page. The new Swift gets all new interiors, similar exteriors and retains the same powertrains.
The new Swift, in its third generation, with bigger headlamps, has 50mm additional wheelbase and is manufactured in Hungary since June 2010.
Maruti Suzuki has released two teaser videos of the new Swift which will be launched on the 17th of this month. Bookings for the new Swift were opened a few weeks back and the response has been truly extraordinary.
The teaser videos will further heighten the hype but with the car already available overseas and picked up numerous number of times by the local media, it is not going to induce any goosebumps to viewers.
Maruti Suzuki has retained the powertrains adding variable valve timing technology to the petrol engine. The option of Automatic Transmission is still missing. Having seen the competition offer a oomph-packed avatar achieved using a larger capacity engine or different state of tune (Polo 1.6, Fabia 1.6, Punto 90, Vista 90) will Maruti plonk the 1.6 VVT from the SX4 under the Swift’s bonnet with racing stripes, sports seats and fancy interiors? The Swift is a cult brand in India and a more powerful variant will not be a total misfit in the “kitna deti hai?” kind of cars.
Maruti Suzuki is working overtime on increasing output at the Manesar plant
