Suzuki moves to Thai Swift

A Swift new Thai takeaway has failed to deliver the one thing Australian car buyers really want - a price cut. Production of the Suzuki Swift has just been switched from Japan to Thailand, a move that brings a little extra value but no change to the GA model's starting price of $15,990.

There is more gear in the GL and GLX, but even that has brought a $300 price rise for the mid-level model. Suzuki Australia defends the latest deal by pointing to the existing dollar deal of its top selling model. 

“The GA is absolutely unchanged, and the price hasn't changed either. The price isn't going down because we're putting more stuff into the GL and GLX,” says Suzuki spokesman, Andrew Ellis.

Suzuki switched the Swift from Japan to Thailand, and its newest factory, in a similar move to the one that sees Ford, Honda, Toyota and a wide range of other brands taking their supplies from the Asian manufacturing powerhouse.

Thailand is now second only to Japan as a source of cars for Australia and last year we bought 171,878 Thai-made cars. “Swift is the first Thai car for us. Japan is now concentrating on domestic production,” says Ellis.

“It is a greenfield factory that's only been building cars since the third quarter last year. In future we'll look at every possibility with cars coming out of that plant.''

For the Swift, the new supply line brings cruise control and factory-integrated Bluetooth to the GL model, while the GLX picks up cruise control. Suzuki says the new deal is an $850 bonus on the GL, despite a price rise of $300, but there is no change to the showroom sticker of the GLX which is priced from $18,990.