Maruti Suzuki India to introduce 6-speed manual transmission: Will Swift be first?

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker is reportedly planning to introduce a new six-speed manual gearbox in India. The Indo-Japanese outfit's majority of cars from the Alto to Ciaz are currently using a five-speed gearbox. The carmakers are likely to replace this unit with the new transmission in a phased manner.

The first car from Maruti Suzuki's portfolio to get the new six-speed transmission (codenamed MF30) is likely to be the new Swift, reports Moneycontrol. Maruti Suzuki launched the new third generation of the Swift at Auto Expo 2018 in February. Hence, the introduction of new gearbox is expected with the next update to the popular hatchback.

Maruti Suzuki plans to bring 50,000 units of the new transmission in the first year. By 2020, demand for the six-speed manual gearbox is expected to grow by four lakh units per year, the report. Maruti Suzuki, however, has not commented officially about the introduction of new transmission to its cars yet.

Maruti Suzuki's arch-rival in India, Hyundai already offers its mass-market cars with a six-speed transmission. Hyundai Elite i20, Verna, Elantra, Creta, and Tucson comes with the six-speed unit and it could be one of the reasons why Maruti Suzuki now prompted to bring new transmission.

Coming back to Swift, the 2018 version has been receiving overwhelming response and bookings have already crossed 60,000 units. The prospective buyers will have to wait from two months to four months, depending on the variant and location, to get their hands on their Swift model.

Priced from Rs 4.99 lakh to Rs 6.96 lakh for petrol variants and Rs 5.99 lakh to Rs 7.96 lakh for diesel variants (ex-showroom Delhi), the new generation swift is offered in 1.2-liter K12 VVT petrol and 1.3-liter DDiS 190 diesel engines. The petrol mill churns out 83hp of power and 113Nm of torque while the diesel engine develops 75hp of power and 190Nm of torque. The engines are currently offered in five-speed manual transmission and five-speed Auto Gear Shift (AGS) transmission in both petrol and diesel trims.

Source: MoneyControl