Suzuki’s baby gets some love to inflate its appeal in a shrinking small car market
Alasdair Rodden Alasdair.Rodden@haymarket.com
SUMMER
FORD RECENTLY MADE headlines by announcing that it was killing off its Fiesta hatchback, leaving thousands of UK car buyers wondering what on earth they should go for next. But fortunately, not every manufacturer is deserting the market for small, cheap hatchbacks, and Suzuki is hoping that its Swift can fill the void.
In order to keep prices down, the next-generation Swift will come with the same 1.2-litre mild hybrid petrol engine as the current model. Unless, that is, you go for the Swift Sport, in which case you’ll get a turbocharged 1.4 – again carried over.
And this theme continues elsewhere, with the Swift’s underpinnings updated instead of all-new.As a result, the dimensions will be very similar to those of today’s car, meaning the Swift will remain one of the most compact cars in its class.
That’s not to say it looks the same as before, though; the new Swift is rumoured to have softer, Mini-like styling.The camouflaged prototypes that we’ve seen don’t give a whole lot away, but we can see that the rear door handles have moved from behind the side windows to a more traditional position on the doors themselves.
Suzuki might also try to address interior quality; while the current car feels solid enough, it uses a lot of hard, shiny plastics that would be likely to disappoint Fiesta owners. We also expect Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring to become standard across the range, instead of being reserved for high-end trim levels.
EARLY 2023 Citroën e-C4 X
A saloon version of the Citroën e-C4, the X is around 240mm longer than its sibling, with most of that going into the boot to give it an extra 130 litres of luggage space, with practicality further enhanced by a ski hatch thr
