It’s one of Suzuki’s most iconic vehicles, and to celebrate June’s launch of the All-new Swift, we uncover a few things you might not know about one of Australia’s favourite small cars.

1. The original Swift (1983) was known as the Cultus in Japan. The word comes from the Latin for adoration. The car was re-badged in other countries by then sister company GM as the Forsa in US, Barina (Australia) and Firefly (Canada).

2. In 1986, Suzuki added the GTi version with a 74kW 1.3-litre DOHC four-cylinder engine, tacho, body kit and 13-inch wheels. Air-conditioning was optional.

3. The GTi was the first Swift to feature rear disc brakes.

4. The Swift name was dropped in 1994 and replaced by Cino, to revert back to Swift in 2000.

5. Nearing the end of its lifecycle, Suzuki issued several limited-edition models, including the Cino Sport, Cino Black Magic and Cino Extreme.

6. The all-new EZ Swift was launched in 2004, with a marketing campaign featuring star soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.

7. The Swift is the most awarded Suzuki, winning more than 60 ‘Car of the Year’ awards (including Carsguide Australia ‘Car of the Year’ in 2005).

8. The Swift reached the magical one million sales mark faster than any other car in Suzuki history and went on to sell more than five million in total to date.

9. The Swift was the winning car in the 2007 and 2010 FIA Junior World Rally Championship, driven by Sweden’s Per-Gunnar Andersson and Germany’s Aaron Burkart, respectively.

10. The previous model Swift was the first ‘global’ car for the company and today is produced in five plants around the world – in Japan, Hungary, Thailand, India and Malaysia.