We know many of you will have a hard time believing us just by looking at these photos, but this is not a facelift of any sort; it’s actually the all-new generation of the Suzuki Swift and it was unveiled yesterday at the manufacturer’s production facility at Esztergom, in Hungary.
Suzuki’s aim with the new car is to improve styling (although it seems to be a case of ‘spot the differece’), driving performance, impact safety, fuel consumption, handling and lower emissions.
Underneath the body panels, there’s an all-new platform that increases the 2010 Swift’s wheelbase by 50 mm to 2 380 mm and the car’s overall length by 90 mm to 3 850 mm. The new Swift is also slightly wider (+5 mm) and taller (+10 mm) and comes with wider front (+10 mm) and rear tracks (+5 mm).
Suzuki also claims that extensive use of higher strength steel makes the new bodyshell lighter and stiffer than before, while also helping to improve impact safety for pedestrians as well as occupants.
Along with the new platform, the 2010 Swift also gets new a petrol and a revised diesel engine.
A 1,2-litre petrol engine with Dual VVT (Variable intake and exhaust valve timing) replaces the outgoing 1,3-litre unit. It produces 70 kW at 6 000 r/min, slightly more than the outgoing 1,3-litre engine, while torque is also improved to 118 N.m at 4 800 r/min.
Fuel consumption for this engine on the combined cycle is 5.0 l/100km for the manual transmission model, an improvement of 0.8 l/100km over the previous 1.3-litre unit.
Emissions are much lower as well, with the new 1,2-litre engine producing just 116g/km on the combined cycle; representing a 24g/km or 17 per cent improvement over the 1,3-litre. An optional automatic transmission will be available for the petrol engine from launch.
The reworked 1,3-litre diesel engine produces 56 kW and according to Suzuki, it emits 109g/km (down from 119g/km) and has a combined fuel consumption of 4.2 l/100km.
Suzuki is also planning a replacement for the Swift Sport model. More details and photos will be released before the car goes on sale in Europe later this year.
