The all new Honda Fit (Jazz for India) has taken the Japanese domestic market by storm. It has successfully clinched the title of the bestselling Car from the Toyota Aqua within two months of its launch. Honda has sold 19,388 units of Fit in September, 23,281 in October and 26,235 units last month- totalling just close to 69,000 units.
The Fit/Jazz is available in three variants in Japan. There are choices of three powertains, with AWD available as an option on all variants. The Fit F, L, sport a 1.3-litre and a 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine respectively, the S is the hybrid model, which has an electric motor working in tandem with the 1.5-litre i-VTEC mill.
The all new Fit is expected to be unveiled at the 2014 Auto Expo as the all-new Honda Jazz in India. It is expected that the Indian market will get the proven 1.2-litre i-VTEC motor that powers the Brio and Amaze sedan. However, the engine that we are interested in is the 1.5-i-DTEC engine that powers the Amaze and the new City Diesel. The Jazz will be the third car to get this oil burner and is expected to have the same specifications-100bhp and 200Nm of torque and this should make it quite a cracker to drive.
The Jazz never clicked in India, until 2011, when Honda re-launched it with a huge price cut, which finally made the Jazz quite successful. The all-New Jazz could be more formidable in its second stint in the Indian market when launched. We shall reserve our comments until more details on its launch emerge.