Suzuki is launching a new generation of its popular Swift model, a model that unfortunately, won’t be available to U.S. buyers initially, but could come sometimes in late 2011. The new Swift has already been launched in Japan and in the U.K. but the car will have its first international motor show appearance in Paris later this month. So the car won’t be all new, but it will get a new feature for the French show: a Stop & Start system, that cuts off the engine each time the car is stopped, at the lights or wherever.

This matters a lot in France as my country has an incentives system for cars with low CO2 emissions. The new Swift is just at the tipping point, and the Stop & Start system, by reducing its fuel consumption by 4% will allow it to get an incentive of 500 euros ($650). This doesn’t sound like much, but I’m sure the Stop & Start system will cost less than that. So it means that the Swift with the Stop & Start system will be cheaper for the French buyer than the Swift without it!

I guess Suzuki will make that option standard equipment for the French market…