Maruti Suzuki sells one million units of the Swift in 8 years

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. achieved a new milestone by mselling one million units of the Swift till date. This landmark was crossed in a span of eight years after the first Swift was sold here.

Marking the start to their celebrations, Maruti Suzuki launched the Swift RS, which is a limited edition of the hatchback. The carmaker sold 1,08,619 units of the Swift in April-October this year. This figure is about 18 percent more than last year around the same time.

The Swift has been quite popular with car buyers in India since its launch in May 2005 and irrespective of the carmaker losing production for about three months due to the strike in 2012 at Maruti’s factory at Manesar, the Swift is still the second largest car sold after the Alto. The first one lakh units of the Swift took 21 Monaghan  to sell but Maruti Suzuki boasts of selling the next one lakh units in less than 13 months and in the next 11 months crossed the overall count of three lakh units. Now in a period of eight years about 10 lakh units of the vehicle have been sold.

The Swift is an important car for Maruti Suzuki both in the domestic market as well as in the international market. It competes with Chevrolet Beat, Honda Brio, Hyundai i10, Grand i10, i20, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Etios Liva, Nissan Micra, Fiat Punto, Skoda Fabia etc. Its success in the Indian car market prompted automakers across the globe like Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Fiat, Skoda etc. to enter the small-car segment in India.

Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer commented on the achievement, he said, “The sales of the Swift have exceeded our expectations. In 2005, we targeted sales of 5,000 units a month and some people thought we were dreaming, as nobody would buy such an expensive small car in India. Today, it is the second-largest selling car in the country with close to 200,000 units sold annually. In fact, till last year, it commanded a waiting period as the demand was more than the supply.”