India is a country of more than 1.2 billion people and every other car sold in this wonderful country is a Suzuki, a salesman’s dream.

Last year Suzuki sold more than 1.35 million there, and such is the demand for their product that a Suzuki garage pops up every 20 miles in India.

The operation is so vast that some of the garages can service 250 cars a day which means 50 ramps for each establishment. Quite amazing!

Japan is Suzuki’s home country where they are third in production terms behind Toyota and Honda but because India is so important they produce many of their own vehicles. And some of them are also exported from India to the UK.

But here in the UK we are small beer compared to the rest of the world and last year only 38,000 were sold here. But the company has big plans and this year the figure will exceed the 40,000 mark and the 50,000 number is in their sights.

But they intend to keep their small is beautiful badge as they do with a range of good, solid cars.

At the bottom end they have the small cars the Baleno and the Ignis but they have just launched their new compact supermini with the Swift.

It is the third generation of the Swift and it goes on sale next month and Suzuki reckon to sell at least 12,500 in a full year in the UK and 70,000 in Europe.

When the first model first came out in 2005 since then there have been 127,000 satisfied customers in the UK, more than one million in Europe while global Swift sales have topped the 5.4 million mark.

The latest Swift has the same lightweight construction as its stablemate the Baleno, which makes it 10 per cent lighter than the previous model.

The previous Swift had a weakness in its boot space so the designers have improved both the cabin space and the boot.

There are two petrol engines on offer which are the entry-level unit which is the 1.2 Dualjet four-cylinder with 89bhp and 120Nm of torque.

That gives you 0-62mph in under 12 seconds, while the combined fuel economy is around 65 mpg and 98g/km of CO2.

The other engine is the 1.0-litre three-cylinder, direct-injection Boosterjet turbo and I found that the better of the two engines. Just how these one litre engines are doing so well right across the various manufacturers is tremendous.

This Suzuki one litre produces 110bhp and 170Nm of torque between which takes the Swift from 0-62mph in 10.6 seconds.

The combined economy for this engine is just over 60mpg CO2 emissions of 104g/km.

Suzuki’s SHVS mild-hybrid system is also offered on both engines and there is SHVS on the 1.2 in conjunction with four-wheel drive.

The standard gearbox is a five-speed manual available across the range with the 1.0 Boosterjet non-hybrid having a six-speed auto in the top-spec trim level.

There are three different trims which open with the SZ3 which has DAB and Bluetooth, air-con, LED daytime running lights and a leather-covered steering wheel as standard.

Next the SZ-T which is expected to account for 40 per cent of all sales, and has a seven-inch infotainment screen a rear-view camera, 16-inch alloy wheels and front fogs.

The top of the range SZ5 has the mild-hybrid versions of both the 1.0 and the 1.2 (the latter with four-wheel drive), and the non-hybrid 1.0 as an automatic.

There’s mass more kit with this which has sat-nav, climate control, polished alloys, LED headlights and tail-lights, adaptive cruise control, electric windows all round, keyless entry, reach adjustment on the steering wheel and electric folding door mirrors.

There is also a forward-facing camera and laser sensors that deliver lane departure warning and high-beam assist, along with autonomous emergency braking.

The cabin has enough room for four adults and it drives extremely well with bags of pull and performs tirelessly.

You can see that more and people are having a look at a Suzuki for the first time because they are both attractive and good value for money.

Prices start at £10,999 going through to £15,849 and the three year residual is reckoned to be 40 per cent.