Maruti Suzuki India has announced its plans to launch the new shortened version of the Swift DZire sedan in the month of February 2012. The new car will enable the company to save on excise duty owing to its length of less than 4 meters. According to Mr. Mayank Pareek Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales), the company has used a brand new platform for the car and incorporated more than 150 new features as compared to the existing DZire sedan.
The new car will be offered with both diesel and petrol options, the diesel variant powered by the 1.3 liter engine and the petrol variant powered by the 1.2 liter engine. The company will also offer an automatic transmission variant of the new car model. The total cost for the company to have incurred for the model change came to be more than Rs. 230 crore according to Mr. Pareek.
The existing DZire will continue in some specific variants to cater to the demand in the commercial market. However, the rest of the variants will be discontinued after the launch of the new compact sedan.