The redesigned Suzuki Swift hatchback spotted on the Nurburgring earlier this year will make its official debut at the 2010 Paris auto show, Automotive News reported today.
American Suzuki officials have been talking about re-launching the Swift, which has become one of the better B-segment hatchbacks in Europe, in the United States for the last couple years. No launch date has ever been specified. However, in today's AN report, Suzuki's Steve Younan, the U.S. head of product development, noted that the U.S. launch date has been pushed back until sometime in 2011. European sales will start this fall.
The problem with the U.S. market is a lack of available marketing dollars to launch the happy new hatchback.
As the Japanese yen has risen against the U.S. dollar, Suzuki has opted to slash its U.S. marketing budget rather than raise prices -- which is one reason why a very good car like the Kizashi is practically invisible to the American buying public.
Video of a sport-trim Swift lapping the 'Ring after the jump.
shouldermonkey says:
04:06 PM, 08/30/10
HURRAY! I was really considering a Ford Fiesta since there hasn't been any updates on whether or not the new Suzuki Swift will make it stateside.
kevinlch says:
01:18 PM, 08/31/10
finally, have been waiting it for years
ed124c says:
08:18 AM, 09/30/10
Don't get your hopes up-- the "postonement" of the Swift may be a harbinger of worse things to come.
If Suzuki doesn't have the money to promote their cars, and they still expect that the US will buy them, then why not import the Swift? What is the worst that can happen, that the US will ignore the Swift? US buyers pretty much ignore all Suzukis, so adding one more model couldn't hurt (too much).
And if they do bring in the Swift and Suzuki does vacate the US market, nobody would say they didn't try.