The new Suzuki Swift will be launching in Thailand
early next year, the Bangkok Post reports. The fourth-generation B-segment
hatchback made its home market debut in December 2016 and the Swift Sport hot
hatch surfaced two months ago.
The new Swift comes with a 1.0 litre Boosterjet
triple, but Thais will instead get a 1.2 litre naturally-asprated four-cylinder
unit dubbed Dualjet. The K12C 1.2L twin-injector engine will go it alone in the
Land of Smiles, without the integrated starter generator (ISG) that a mild
hybrid variant gets in Japan.
The Swift is an
Eco Car playing in Thailand’s entry level market. Nissan’s Note eco car,
launched there early this year, also omitted the JDM version’s e-Power hybrid
system, making do with a 1.2L NA engine. The recently rebooted Toyota Yaris
will be the car to beat.
The Swift’s K12C makes the same 91 hp/118 Nm as the
K12B unit in the outgoing Thai Swift, but it should be more fuel efficient and
green to meet Eco Car Phase 2 standards of 23.3 km/l and 100 g/km of CO2
emissions. The new Heartect platform, which is more rigid and less heavy would
help the cause – the JDM car’s weight reduction is from 30 to 160 kg.