No Hybrid Tech On Swift For Now, But CNG Coming Soon: Maruti Suzuki MD

Maruti Suzuki launched the new generation Swift just last week and with prices beginning from Rs. 6.49 lakh, the hatchback has sure made a statement of being a value for money offering. But there were a lot of rumours about the hatchback getting a hybrid powertrain. Acko Drive got a chance to meet up with Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, and ask him this very question.

He said, “Hybrid is actually a very good technology but with extra cost. For this model we consider what our customer needs and what our customer needs is better fuel efficiency but at the same starting price range. And the way to achieve this our answer is this Z series engine. So although we do not have hybrid in this, we achieved some certain you know level of our target which we would have reached via a hybrid powertrain.”

So, the Z Series engine is clearly the mainstay. Now the hybrid powertrain is not new to Maruti Suzuki India as it already has the technology in cars like the Grand Vitara and even the Invicto. So, the Swift getting it would have had an added advantage of reaching a mass market space.

The Swift in Japan and select European markets comes with a compact hybrid system. This system features a self-charging hybrid system that is powered by a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 10Ah to improve energy recovery efficiency. However, the India launch will depend on the demand for the system.

Maruti Suzuki will bring in the CNG version of the Swift soon, Takeuchi said, “This time we don’t have a CNG yet, but you can expect one.” How soon? Well, that’s a question that has remained unanswered, but given the company’s increasing volumes of CNG, we expect it to come in this financial year itself. Maruti Suzuki sold 4.5 lakh CNG models in FY24 and the target for the current financial year (FY25) is 6 lakh units. Given how quickly the Swift model moves from Arena dealerships, the CNG variant of the hatchback will play a huge role in reaching the target number.