 |
| Suzuki Swift Attitude |
Suzuki’s Swift supermini had always been much loved by Irish motorists for its stylish good looks and for its drivability, writes Trish Whelan.
Swift is the car most people associate with Suzuki as it best demonstrates their design and engineering capabilities. It is getting close to reaching sales of seven million units globally.
Now, a new version called Attitude has been added to the Swift line-up of SZ3, SZ-T, SZ5 and Sport.
At the car’s launch on Thursday at The Johnstown Estate near Enfield in Co Meath, Ed Norman, Product Manager of Suzuki U, said this is a key model in the Swift line-up for 2019 which will draw customers who may not be able to afford €23,245 for a Swift Sport but who want a sporty looking car that is less expensive to buy. Attitude prices start from €17,245.
While the car’s exterior sporty looks compare favourably to those of the Swift Sport- which is armed with a 1.4 Boosterjet trubo engine outputting 140hp and 230 Nm of torque - it is not a sporty version as it uses a 1.2 Dualjet 4-cylinder petrol engine outputting 90hp. Combined fuel consumption is 5.5 L/100kms (51.4mpg), top speed is 180km/h, 0-100km/h is 11.9 secs. Annual road tax is €190. Luggage capacity is 265L expandable to 579L.
We got to enjoy a short drive in the car on good local roads at launch, but in quite miserably wet conditions.
In looks, Attitude gets a unique exterior design including a mesh grille, polished 16-inch alloys, front/side/rear carbon effect skirts and a rear upper spoiler.
Competitors include similar versions of the SEAT Ibiza, Mazda 2, Ford Fiesta and Hyundai i20.
Suzuki plan to sell 200 units in a full year. The car is built at Sagara in Japan.
Giving an update on the brand for 2019, Ed Norman said things are ‘a lot more positive’ in the Irish market for the brand now. “We have had a very small decline in volume this year, but it represents volume stability in a market down by -7 per cent. Since 2015, we have been steadily growing and this year are down by just -2 per cent which is very small by comparison.” He said Suzuki sales are now back to the 1.1 per cent level they were at before the recession of 2008 and that this is a profitable level for them to stay in Ireland.
This achievement is due to their core models of Swift, Ignis and Vitara competing in the important A, B & SUV segments and all experiencing growth in sales. Sales of S-Cross have been hampered by supply issues, but these have now been resolved. However, both Celerio and Baleno models have seen big drops in sales and are no longer being produced.
Suzuki enjoys the highest ratio of private customer sales among the top 20 brands with only Porsche ahead and do not sell to the hire drive market unlike most competitors.
Looking to the future, Mr Norman said they plan to have a self-charging, mild hybrid system as an option in all their manual transmission models. This system provides up to a 10 per cent efficiency benefit versus an equivalent non-hybrid version system.
Suzuki currently has 22 dealers in Ireland, down from 30 pre recession, and are looking for dealers to join the network in some areas of the country so as to bring that total to around 24. Downeys in Portlaoise and Drogheda Car Sales are the two most recent dealerships to join the Suzuki sales network.
