New Maruti Swift, Maruti Wagon R & Maruti Ertiga arriving this year

The company will kickstart the new year with the 2018 Maruti Swift. Later, the next-gen Maruti Wagon R and the next-gen Maruti Ertiga will follow, says a report from The Economic Times.

The 2018 Maruti Swift's production at the Suzuki plant in Gujarat has already commenced. Its media activities will begin this month. Maruti Suzuki will launch it at the Auto Expo which opens on Feb 7 for the press. The Heartect platform-based 2018 Maruti Swift will use the same engines (1.2L VVT petrol and 1.3L DDiS190 diesel) as the outgoing model. However, customers will have an option of the 5-speed automated manual transmission in the new Swift.

The next-gen Maruti Ertiga is currently under development. Internally known as the 'Maruti YHA', the second generation model will utilise the Heartect platform as its basis. The Swift-based MPV could grow to become a proper Renault Lodgy rival. The 1.3-litre diesel engine of the current Ertiga will go out of production by 2020. So, either at launch or later during its lifecycle, the next-gen Ertiga should get the in-house developed 1.5-litre diesel engine. One more interesting development is the availability of a crossover variant this time.

Not much is known about the next-gen Maruti Wagon R yet. With BNVSAP norms set to apply from October this year, one can at least expect the redesigned model to offer a considerably higher amount of safety. The all-new JDM-spec Suzuki Wagon R introduced last year switched to the company's Heartect platform. A three-row Maruti Wagon R will join the range at a later stage. This model will compete with the Datsun GO+ and the Renault RBC.