Australia’s Problematic Swift
The Australian market had the new Suzuki Swift for a minute before it crashed and was pulled from shelves. Suzuki Australia made a few calls following the results of the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) in 2024. Prior to this, the Euro NCAP tested the Swift, which scored fairly well with a three-star rating.
Given the Euro NCAP score, it’s fair to assume the Australian-market Swift would net similar scores, but even Suzuki Australia was caught off-guard by the one-star ANCAP Safety Rating it received in 2024. Isn’t this supposed to be a global model?
So What Gives?
CarExpert got a minute with the General Manager for Suzuki Australia, Michael Pachota. In an interview, Pachota stated:
“[The] European car got a three-star [Euro] NCAP safety rating, our car got one star. We then fed that back to the manufacturer, and they said ‘well, there is a slight specification difference in the vehicle itself,’ to which point we then said ‘okay, that’s the car we need’ – so we phased out the one-star car and brought in the three-star car.”
Based on the statement, it appears Suzuki Australia was blindsided, prompting their boss to call the supplier, Suzuki Global, and to promptly investigate the matter. Apparently, there was a specification difference between the European and the Australian market units. “Slight” was the word that Pachota used, which could be an understatement. However, the Euro NCAP score for the Swift isn’t that high a bar to clear, as the Swift qualifies as a three-star car only.
This Isn’t The First Time
Suzuki is on a roll, or a slump, depending on how you want to put it. For some reason, the Japanese brand in the land down under couldn’t get things right two times in a row. As stated in a related story, the Suzuki Fronx, a compact SUV from the Japanese marque, passed other NCAP tests with flying colors, but the ANCAP remains one tough nut to crack for the Japanese marque.
In the ASEAN NCAP results, the Suzuki Fronx earned a five-star ASEAN NCAP safety rating, a far cry from the Australian NCAP result of one star. In a similar fashion, that model was pulled from the market until Suzuki Australia could get a retest with the ANCAP.
Spot the Difference
The very first ANCAP result in 2024 noted that the “[Suzuki Swift’s] protection of the chest was WEAK for the driver. Structures in the dashboard were a potential source of injury for the driver and front passenger, and protection of the upper legs was rated MARGINAL. The driver’s lower legs were also rated as MARGINAL, with protection of the driver’s feet rated POOR based on rearward pedal movement. Protection of the chest and lower legs of the front passenger was ADEQUATE for the lower legs. GOOD protection was offered to the head and neck of both the driver and front passenger.
After the changes, however, the Suzuki Swift currently sits at a three-star rating with the ANCAP in the 2025 crash test. Suzuki retested with another unit in September 2025 and received a three-star rating, similar to the Euro NCAP rating for the Swift.
The Euro-spec—now Australian-spec—Suzuki Swift now has additional front-end reinforcements that were missing, unbeknownst to Suzuki Australia. Now Aussie customers can enjoy two more stars’ worth of peace of mind.
