Ottawa, Canada,
20/Aug/2005
I am adding some more text on 20/Aug/2005 to my first input.
This article explains the price difference in India when compared to other countries :
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1204817.cms
Other observations are :
a) Hyundai has almost all of their cars in India too as in Canada. I have seen Accent, Elantra, Tucson but not Santro, in Canada. A direct comparison is impossible with Suzuki as they are more known as a motor cycle manufacturer rather than as a car manufacturer here.
b) New Chevrolet Aveo which is proposed to be launched in India soon has very similar looks of Suzuki Swift. I doubt how well GM is doing internationally but it is definitely worth a wait for.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is not a review of ’Swift’. Below are my observations out of my enthusiasm for new cars. It might be useful back home for some people to make decisions.
I am working for a software company in India. I had booked a Wagon R in Oct 2004 and then cancelled the vehicle delivery in the last moment as I had to leave to Canada for an assignment. I intend to buy a car after coming back to India and hence have been following the launch of Suzuki Swift in India, very closely.
Manual version of Swift ( New Swift is called Swift+ here) is selling at approximately 14, 595 Canadian dollars here [ approx 518122 INR ]. The model launched in Canada is with the latest 1.6L engine designed for Swift, unlike in India where an old Esteem engine is tuned and put into a new car. The price of Zxi variant in India is not much different from the price of the above mentioned Swift in Western countries. Then why is the difference in quality ? Is there much to boast about a brand new global car if the engine technology is 10 years old ? I sometimes wonder if we Indians can ever get any thing new from Maruti other than ’exteriors’ !! Every time they launch a new Alto or new Baleno or new Esteem, the changes will be confied to ’Clear head lights’ or ’new grill’ or some esthetic stuff like that. :-)
URL with specifications of Swift in Canada :
https://suzuki.ca/en/
Another thing I have observed is that Swift is not a best selling hatchback model in Canada. Most popular and common ones on roads are Toyota Echo and Volkswagen Jetta. Both are available as Hatchback as well as Sedan versions, like Tata Indica and Indigo in India. I have been trying to spot ’Swifts’ on roads but could not find many. Interestingly an old model with the name ’Swift’ was sold in North America by Suzuki since 1998. I got the oppurtunity to get a close look at one and found that it resembles our venerable Zen very closely.