Suzuki wants Swift to steal MG 3's crown as small car sales champion

Get ready to see lots of new Suzuki Swifts on the road Down Under – at least, that’s what the Japanese brand is forecasting.

The 2024 Suzuki Swift Hybrid has just landed in Australia, and the company’s local boss says he has a “conservative” annual volume forecast of 10,000 per year.

“Supply is very good – in saying that, supply is good based on our expectation of sales, right?” Michael Pachota, managing director for Suzuki Automobiles Australia, told CarExpert.

Supplied Credit: CarExpert

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“We have a hell of a lot of enquiry in the fleet space, which is something we don’t necessarily dabble with in high amounts… that space could grow with this particular product based on it meeting all the requirements and being a really good car for reliability – specifically in rental fleets, I think there’s an incremental volume opportunity there.”

“My guesstimate of 10,000 cars a year in Swift sales could be conservative in consideration to that level of enquiries,” Mr Pachota added.

A yearly figure of 10,000 vehicles works out to a monthly rate of 833 registrations, if Mr Pachota’s figures are accurate.

For reference, the outgoing Swift saw 6914 registrations in 2023, an increase of 57.0 percent and second best in class behind the MG 3 (15,430 units, down 4.6 per cent).

Suzuki hasn’t sold 10,000 Swifts in a single year since 2015.

This coming year could prove interesting for the segment, however, with a new generation of MG 3 – now including the option of a hybrid variant – bringing a significant increase in price for the Chinese hatch.

Supplied Credit: CarExpert

The old MG 3 was a hit with rental fleets, so perhaps the Swift Hybrid could be coming to a Hertz or Europcar lot near you.

The new-generation Suzuki Swift is solely offered with a 12V mild-hybrid powertrain in Australia, quoting combined fuel consumption of just 4.0L/100km with prices starting from $24,490 drive-away.

While not as sophisticated as the hybrid systems in the MG 3 Hybrid+ and Toyota Yaris Hybrid in terms of electric motor power and battery pack density, the Swift Hybrid bisects its two rivals in terms of quoted fuel claim – the Yaris Hybrid claims 3.3L/100km and the MG 3 Hybrid+ quotes 4.3L/100km.

You can read our full pricing and specs breakdown here.

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