Suzuki Swift
The Swifter

When this car was first introduced into the Malaysian market in 2005, it marked a new beginning of the Suzuki brand here. Previously, Suzuki cars were distributed by Lion Suzuki. Undeniably, just like Mazda under Cycle & Carriage, the sale was sluggish. As far as I can remember, the last Swift brought into Malaysia by Lion Suzuki was in 1990. Other newer models brought in were the Suzuki ERV and Aero / Liana in 2003.

When DRB-HICOM took over the Suzuki franchise, they acted aggressively. They now have in their stable of cars the Swift, Vitara, SX4 Crossover and SX4 sedan. Among the most important step they took to capture a bigger market share was to lower the price of the Swift by introducing a locally assembled model, utilizing their car plant in Pekan, Pahang. The impact was huge. The CBU model that was previously sold at RM88k lost their second hand value considerably as a brand new CKD unit could be purchased at only RM69k.

Get the full story in Extremekars February 2010 issue…