A limited edition version of the Suzuki Swift equipped with a mild hybrid system is on sale now for £16,000. Only 350 of them will be made, called Attitude, with Suzuki offering the car on a 0% PCP to make it as affordable as possible.
Order one now on finance and it’ll cost £2312 up front followed by £189 per month over four years, with a £4615 balloon payment at the end. Total cost therefore…*calculator out*…is exactly £15,999.
The attitude is based on the standard SZ-T trim level (which provides the base entry to the car when equipped with a 1.0-litre petrol engine, at £15,000), which itself has air con, alloy wheels, smartphone mirror link, rear tinted windows and LED daytime running lights.
The Attitude trim then adds a mesh grille, carbon effect skirts, a rear spoiler and some chrome trim. It looks a little meaner, basically.
Obviously the main thing is the hybrid system, though. (A big loss for the inverted pyramid style of news writing, this.) It mates a 1.2-litre petrol engine with a five-speed manual gearbox to a 12V mild hybrid system for a total output of 89bhp. A mild hybrid system doesn’t drive the car using electric power alone, as does a ‘traditional’ hybrid system, but rather replaces the standard starter motor with a beefed-up belt-driven generator, which acts as a starter motor and an electrical booster for the engine
It’s not a performance enhancing thing in this case, but rather reduces load on the engine during vehicle take off and acceleration, generating its own power largely through regenerative braking. Overall it adds 10kg to the weight of the car, but according to Suzuki improves fuel consumption by 11%.
Suzuki has priced it so close to the base model because it hopes that the fuel savings, relatively low power and low cost (and therefore cheap insurance) will make it a great first car “ideal for younger buyers who may perhaps aspire to the 1.4-litre Swift Sport hybrid model in the future.” Fair enough.
Keyword: Limited edition Suzuki Swift 'starter hybrid' on sale now