2012 Suzuki Swift Sport launched in South Africa

The Suzuki Swift Sport is one small fast car that echoes the spirit of the original Mini, thanks to its inexpensive and cheerful outlook on performance motoring. With a rev-happy 1.6-litre engine under the hood mated to a slick-shifting 6-speed manual gearbox – the Sport is not your average run-of-the-mill Swift seen on every other road. That explains why everyone sat up and took notice when the new Swift Sport concept, based on the all-new Swift was shown at last year’s Geneva Motor Show. 

Now after introducing the car in Europe and Australia, Suzuki has gone ahead and launched the 2012 Swift Sport in South Africa with a price tag of 213,900 South African rand, which is about Rs 14 lakh in Indian currency. 

As for the design additions, the Swift Sport features a sporty bodykit, xenon headlamps, the ‘clawed’ fog-lamp housing, 17-inch alloy wheels, rear diffuser with fat dual chrome-tipped exhausts over the regular Swift. Inside, the car gets sporty pedals, leather steering wheel, stop/start button and heavily bolstered front seats. 

Now for us, what serves as a good news is that Maruti is planning to launch the Swift Sport in India, hoping to make the car lot more rewarding to the enthusiasts. But, before the petrolheads really rejoice, take note that this won’t be the out-and-out Swift Sport available in Europe that churns out about 135PS of power and 160Nm of torque with its M 16A 1.6-litre engine. Firstly, it will be a five-door hatch and will also dump the M 16A petrol owing to high import duties. Instead, the India-spec Swift Sport in India will possibly be mated to the new 1.4-litre K-series petrol engine from the Ertiga or the 1.6-litre engine that powers the SX4. Other likely option for a sportier Swift could also come in the form of a 90PS, 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine from the Ertiga and SX4, which is also seen in the recently-launched Punto Sport.