"Going by the pricing and the segment at which it is aimed, a booking of 10,000 in such a short time is not a small thing. We hope to manufacture 200 cars in a day," claimed Maruti Udyog director (marketing and sales) Kinji Saito here Saturday.

"We will start delivering the cars from June 6 onwards," he said, after launching the car in Kolkata.

The total investment for Swift involved Rs.2.5 billion in the car and Rs.1.9 billion in vendors, Saito said.

"Swift represents a new philosophy and fresh thinking at Suzuki Motor Corp (Japan). It is targeted at Indian customers who value the traditional Maruti attributes of fuel efficiency, reliability and performance, but also desire contemporary looks and attitude in the vehicle.

"Maruti is also repositioning itself in terms of marketing and it is changing its product portfolio. Since the launch of the first Maruti car in the 80s, the market has changed. It has become mature and competitive and so we want to offer something more exciting to the customers," he said.

Saito clarified that Maruti has no intention to phase out any model since all its models have a steady market. "We hold a market share of 55 percent in India."

Suzuki Motor now holds 54 percent shares in Maruti Udyog, while the Indian government's share is 18 percent. The rest is held by the public.  

Swift, which comes in three models - Lxi (Rs.387,000), VXi (Rs.405,000) and Zxi (Rs.485,000), boasts of a higher ground clearance, more headroom in the rear and robust suspension.

The key technology of the car is the Controller Area Network (CAN) that enables the onboard computers to "communicate" with each other.