Few months ago there were rumors that Maruti Suzuki is working on a new version of their bestseller Swift. First launched in May 2005 in the country the car was a run away success. Since, then the company has launched numerous variants of this star car, in an effort to maintain the car's popularity not just in India but all over the world. So, the latest variant was rumored to be the Range Extender, which according recent reports proved to be a reality when the variant was spotted undergoing road test in India.
The Range Extender is the hybrid version of the Swift hatchback which was introduce to the Indian market way back in 2017. This new hatchback first appeared at the International Green Mobility Expo earlier this year. and this time not one or two but a full convoy was spotted which shows how seriously the company is busy evaluating the car under real world conditions.
Under the hood, the car comes with a 658cc 3-cylinder petrol engine along with a 73 bhp electric motor which is powered by a 5kwh lithium ion battery. The battery takes 90min to charge fully and can give enough juice to the e-motor for it to run an impressive range of 25.5 km stand alone.
As per the company's internal testy results, the car with both petrol engine and the e-motor working together gives the car an impressive fuel economy of 48.2 kmpl, this couple also helps propel the car faster with quick a pickup which is as important as the car itself because the car weights a heavy 1.600kg. This extra weight means extra work on the car's steering, braking and suspension systems
There are no reports which hint about any changes or upgrades on the car's exterior or interior but on looking at the car's test model and at the Expo we can only say that the new hatchback will not get any cosmetic makeovers except the refreshed skin design which gives the car a very environment friendly look.
If the car passes all the tests and without any major changes, we might see the car hit the showroom by early next year.
Stay tuned for more updates!