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 today at the firm's Magyar Suzuki Corporation production facility at Esztergom, in Hungary.
Evidently there's not much to say about the 2010 Swift's exterior styling. We can understand Suzuki's "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality to a certain extent - the current Swift is one of best-looking cars in the segment in our opinion- but a fresher approach would have been welcome.
There are no official photos of the interior, but some leaked cell phone pics on the net suggest that the dashboard and center console design of the car are heavily inspired by the Suzuki Kizashi sedan.
Underneath the body panels, there's an all-new platform that increases the 2010 Swift's wheelbase by 50mm to 2,380mm and the car's overall length by 90mm to 3,850mm. The new Swift is also slightly wider (+5mm) and taller (+10mm) and comes with wider front (+10mm) and rear tracks (+5mm).
Suzuki also claims that extensive use of higher strength steel makes the new bodyshell lighter and stiffer than before while it also helps improve impact safety for pedestrians as well as occupants.
Along with the new platform, the 2010 Swift also gets a new petrol unit and a revised diesel engine.
A 1.2-liter petrol engine with Dual VVT (Variable intake and exhaust valve timing) replaces the outgoing 1.3-liter unit. It produces 94-horsepower at 6,000rpm, slightly more than the outgoing 1.3-litre unit, while torque is also improved to 118Nm (87 lb-ft) at 4,800rpm.
Fuel consumption for this engine on the combined cycle is 5.0 lt/100km, equal to 56.5mpg UK and 47.0mpg US for the manual transmission model, an improvement of 0.8lt/100km or 7.8mpg UK over the previous 1.3-litre unit.
Emissions are much lower as well as the new 1.2-litre engine with manual transmission produces 116g/km on the combined cycle; representing a 24g/km or 17 per cent improvement over the 1.3. An optional automatic transmission will be available for the petrol engine from launch.
The reworked 1.3-liter diesel engine produces 75HP and according to Suzuki, it emits 109g/km (down from 119g/km) and has a combined fuel consumption of 4.2lt/100km, equal to 67.3mpg UK and 56.0mpg US (previous model: 4.5lt/100km or 62.8mpg UK).
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 late in the summer. No official word yet if and when Suzuki plans to bring the new Swift to North America.
| New Swift | Previous Swift |
Length | 3,850mm | 3,760mm |
Width | 1,695mm | 1,690mm |
Height | 1,510mm | 1,500mm |
Wheelbase | 2,430mm | 2,380mm |
Front Track | 1,480mm (16-inch wheels) | 1,470mm |
Rear Track | 1,485mm (16 inch wheels) | 1,480mm |
New 2010 Suzuki Swift Gallery
