This one isn't another face-lift, there's no middle-age rhinoplasty, no jowl stretch, no nip-and-tuck. In fact, this one is all-new. So new that it isn't even on sale yet. The all-new Suzuki Swift has only just been launched at the Paris Show in late September. And it's a car that is headed to India sooner than you think. Codenamed YN4 (Maruti calls it 'Model K'), this new hatchback is expected to go on sale in March 2005 and is squarely targeted against the Getz and other large hatchbacks. In fact, Maruti is banking heavily on the Swift, which will spawn other variants like a sedan and an MPV to consolidate Maruti's dominance in this market.

The Swift looks every inch a winner and you can see that Suzuki has taken the game forward considerably. Rakish, sharp and very modern, the new Swift is a car that will have its competition sweating in their socks. Its design makes good use of cabin space with generous width and a relatively cab-forward stance. In fact, the Swift bears no resemblance to the cars Maruti produces in India. It's a proper B-segment hatch designed primarily to appeal to European customers. Like Hyundai's Getz, the new Swift's dimensions dwarf all current Maruti hatchbacks. At almost 3.7 metres long, the Swift is no pint Zen-sized runabout. About the length of a Palio but wider and taller, the Swift has been designed around Suzuki's Concept S design that was shown at the Paris Salon in 2002. Look at the two and it seems Suzuki has kept its promise of keeping most of the great looking bits on the car. The nose of the car, like pretty much every detail, is sporty. The simple rectangular slot grille and lower intake are flush with the rounded nose and bumper area. There are sporty ridges on the bonnet and the flanks, the front wheel arch bulges out with restraint, and this is true of the skirts and the mild chin too. The mass of the glass area also has been kept well inside the broad shoulders.

The best part of the design however is the 'peeled-back' lights that sit in between the twin cuts, on the bonnet and on the flank. Also attractive are the blackened pillars and the black perforated grille. And the big Suzuki 'S' looks simply superb.
The sporty theme is carried over to the insides as well. A slender three-spoked wheel, big speedometer and tach — for those high-revving Suzuki motors -- and a neat flat facia. There is no defined central console, but a large control button, a large piece of smoked glass and some pretty straightforward HVAC dials make it look different. The smooth sloping dash does however seem to be a touch impractical.

An interesting fact is that around 15-20 engineers from Maruti worked on the design of the Swift in Hamamatsu, Suzuki's headquarters in Japan. Lessons learned in the design and development of the Swift will pave the way for in-house development by Maruti for future international models. When Suzuki said that India would become its hub for small car development, it wasn't joking.
Few details are available on the suspension currently, but the lessons learnt from the Ignis rally programme are said to have helped during development. A large number of cars have already been thoroughly tested in Europe, and the results have lived up to the sporty looks of the car. Ride quality, however, will be a priority for the Indian market.