Honda to bring the next-generation Jazz to India in 2015

Honda will bring the next- generation Jazz to the Indian market in 2015. This was confirmed to CarWale by Jnaneswar Sen, VP marketing and sales of Honda Cars India, during the launch of the Mobilio, in Delhi, on July 23. The Japanese automaker unveiled the premium hatchback at the 2014 Auto Expo and it is expected to launch with both petrol and diesel engine options. 

The Mobilio is the Big H’s first foray into the highly competitive MPV segment in India which is currently being led by the Toyota Innova and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. Sen said that as of July 22 they have got 5,800 pre-bookings for the Mobilio but now with the prices out, he expects that the numbers will increase significantly. 

While the starting price of the Mobilio (Rs 6.49 lakh ex-showroom Delhi) seems like quite an exciting prospect, Honda has said that if there are too many fluctuations and increase of presence of adverse conditions in the market, they will have to change the prices accordingly. Honda says that there will be a waiting period of one month but this is likely to increase depending on demand. 

The top-spec VX variant which is missing from the Mobilio’s line-up is expected to be launched at a later date and is most likely to include the AVN package which Honda had shown during the media drive but discontinued it from the launched variants due a technical issue.     

Many of the Mobilio’s rivals have gone on to become popular with the fleet market, something that makes the car reliable but drops its value in the private buyer’s eyes. The big H plans to target private buyers in majority and orient its strategies towards them. However, those already using Honda’s cars in the fleet market and looking to switch to the Mobilio will have their support. 

We also quizzed Sen on other cars that Honda will bring or launch in India. He said that firstly there was no plan to currently launch a Brio-based crossover to rival many of its competitors but that they would react accordingly if it became feasible to launch such a vehicle. On a related note he added that there were no plans to bring the Vezel/HR-V to India as it is a premium five-seater SUV and that it would be priced too high to compete with its rivals. We also suspect that this maybe down to the fact that globally the Vezel/HR-V is only available in petrol power.

The new Honda Accord is likely to make its way to India but will be launched in the standard form rather than the hybrid model that was shown at the 2014 Auto Expo. With India being a diesel oriented market, it is also possible that Honda may launch the oil-burner with the 1.6-litre i-DTEC EarthDreams engine. 

Lastly, speaking on Honda’s numbers, he said that they had sold 40,000 units in Q1, with the City and Amaze leading the pack. With the addition of the Mobilio, they expect numbers to increase significantly for Q2. 

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