It won’t be wrong to say that the Swift has been the biggest success for Maruti Suzuki in the past two decades. A spiritual successor to the erstwhile Zen, the first Swift was launched in 2005 and has been carrying the mantle of being the highest-seller for the largest carmaker in India ever since.
Over the years, the Swift has evolved but its basic principle has remained the same, which is a simple family hatchback with great fuel efficiency and a brilliant chassis that made driving the car fun. Earlier in May this year, Maruti launched the fourth generation Swift which got a refreshed exterior and interior styling along with a brand new engine.
And now a couple of weeks ago, the Indo-Japanese carmaker launched the CNG version of the fourth-gen Swift. With petrol and diesel prices skyrocketing in recent years, CNG has truly turned out to be a viable fuel option, especially for those who have a high daily usage. We got to drive the new Maruti Suzuki Swift CNG briefly and find out if in this CNG guise the Swift has the same “pull” as the petrol version.
The 2024 Maruti Suzuki Swift comes in five variants | Image: Express Drives
Maruti Suzuki Swift CNG: Design & features
Visually, this CNG variant is identical to the petrol Swift. There’s no badging or logo on the body to distinguish between the two barring the CNG sticker on the rear windshield. Therefore you get the same Mini Cooper-isque forward cab styling with a low, sporty stance and flat roofline, a clamshell bonnet, restyled LED headlamps and taillamps, and a smaller octagonal black-out front grille with honeycomb mesh internals
Coming to features, the Swift CNG is only available up to the ZXi trim and hence it misses out on some of the key features offered in the ZXi+ trim of the regular Swift. These include LED fog lamps on the front bumper, a reverse parking camera, a leather wrapped steering wheel, cruise control, auto start/stop functionality, and a usable boot space. Furthermore, it gets a smaller 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, as opposed to the larger and more advanced 9-inch unit offered in the ZXi+ trim.
Maruti Swift rear (Image: Express Drives)
That said, it is decently equipped with features such as a semi-digital instrument console with a multi-information display at the centre,
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