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For the people who thought that the new Honda City is the best that Honda can come up with, there is a big surprise in the store. The automobile giant is set to unveil its latest automobile wonder, the Honda Jazz. It will be one of the best things that the company has ever launched in the country.

If you thought that this was the best part, then here is something even better. You do not have to wait to get a test drive of Honda’s latest creation. The company is launching the Honda Jazz in the month of February, in the year 2009.

The main motivation behind the company’s decision to prepone the launch of its latest wonder was the reduced excise duty on the small car segment. Since the ‘Jazz’ is the company’s global hit vehicle, it certainly wanted to cash on this latest happening.

The Honda Jazz is sure to score with the Indian automobile lovers. The car has a much in demand sporty look. Also it is as good as it looks, the car actually packs a lot of power.

The Honda president and CEO Takeo Fukui stated that the importance of the small cars has certainly grown in the recent times in India, so it is the time to strike. Also the car generated an enthusiastic response at the Auto Expo held in Delhi in the month of January."

The car surely seems to be one of the best things to come out of the Honda automobile line, but it certainly would not be cheap. The Honda Jazz will start with a hefty price of about Rs 5 lakh. Still the Honda Jazz will be comparably cheaper than the Skoda Fabia with almost the same if not better features.

Admin

The Honda Jazz, is one of the models from Honda that will soon be launched in India. It is also knows as Honda Fit.

The Honda Jazz is actually a five-door hatchback subcompact which was produced by the Honda motor company of Japan. It was first ever introduced in June 2001. The vehicle is called Fit in Japan and China, it is known by the same name in both North and South America. The car is known as Jazz in Europe as well as some parts of Asia and Australia. The car is known by the same name in the various areas of Middle East, and Africa.

The Honda Jazz uses the company’s Global Small Car platform. The same platform is also used by the Honda City which is a sedan version of the Jazz, the Honda Airwave which is a wagon version of the Honda Aria/City, the Honda Mobilio, and the Honda Mobilio Spike.

The Honda Jazz is one of the best selling models from the company. The car has set a kind of selling standard for the other cars from the company. In fact in the July of the year 2007 the company announced that a total of 2 million Honda Jazz cars have been sold around the world, since it was introduced. All over the world, Japan has registered the largest percentage of sales, by selling the 962,000 units in the country’s home market. Europe is in the second position with more than 417,000 units. The United States of America ha sold more than 77,000 cars since it was introduced in the ye0ar 2006.

Honda is expecting to sell a large number of vehicles India with its latest model. Ant the year next to its debut in India, the company is looking to double the number easily.

just4kix

Hmm. The small car segment (A and B) is very price sensitive. But no doubt the Honda name will help the sales.

dnash

The Honda Jazz does look good. I have driven one and it does feel good on the road too. But it's success will depend solely on what price tag it carries in India.

icar

The Honda Siel CEO sees the downturn lasting for another 6 months & points out that his firm caters to buyers in the premium segment, where the impact of an economic slowdown is tempered

Faced with a contracting demand for cars in India, Honda Motor Co.’s unit here expects to raise prices on its models and maintain slower production for the next six months, even as it keeps its plans for its small car, christened Jazz, unchanged.“Devaluation of rupee is impacting our business because 20-25% of our components are imported from Japan and Thailand. We need to adjust this cost impact,” Masahiro Takedagawa, president and chief executive of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, said late on Saturday evening at a company awards function. “For the CRV it (the price increase) will be substantial.”

Honda Siel is working out the price increase for the other models but customers who had ordered the new model of the Honda City will be protected. Launched in November, the City, which has sold 12,233 units, helped Honda lessen the impact of the slowdown.‘Devaluation of rupee is impacting our business because 20-25% of our components are imported from Japan, Thailand.’In the Indian market consumer confidence has come back slightly, Takedagawa added. Still, the company has seen sales of its models, other than the City, decline sharply. Its total sales in January fell by one-fourth, to 5,773 units when compared with the same month last year. This resulted in the company cutting production at its Greater Noida facility, which is operating on a single shift from the start of this year. It now makes about 200 cars a day instead of the earlier 380 cars.

The production cuts have helped the company trim its inventory to four weeks. Once car sales pick up, it’ll take Honda two months to get back to a two shift production schedule, Takedagawa said. The Honda Siel CEO sees the downturn lasting for another six months and points out that his firm caters to buyers in the premium segment, where the impact of an economic slowdown is tempered. Even so, “customers are concerned with global economy so they have become naturally
cautious”, he said.

Honda continues to push ahead with plans to launch the Jazz, a premium hatchback car. Trial production has started, Takedagawa said. Its 1.2 litre engine has been tailored to Indian regulations to avail of a 12.5% tax rebate.


Like its global counterparts, Toyota Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., Honda has also been wracked by slowing sales in India. But unlike them, it managed to close 2008 with a positive growth in unit sales due to its bike business.

Attached Images

Honda Jazz.jpg (40.5 KB, 11 views)

icar

After a decade long operations in India, the largest player in the mid-size Honda Siel Cars (HSCI) is entering the high volume hatchback category with its small car Jazz, a top company executive said. .

The car will have a new 1.2 litre engine developed exclusively for the Indian market, carrying highest fuel efficiency in its segment.
Jazz also called Fit in certain markets, is the only small car in Honda's global portfolio. To be launched in India in the month of June, Jazz is likely to be the most expensive petrol hatchback in the market with an expected base price of Rs 5.5 lakh. It will be pitted against Skoda's Fabia, Tata Motors' Indigo, Ford Fusion and Hyundai's Accent besides Ritz the upcoming product from Maruti's stable.

Speaking to ET, HSCI managing director & CEO Masahiro Takedagawa said, "Jazz will have all the features found in a premium large car. Our survey shows that 80% hatchback customers feel that these cars lack legroom and headroom space which we have addressed in Jazz."

He added, "We have designed a special engine for India to optimise fuel efficiency and power, which delayed the launch by one year. Jazz also comes strapped with a toughened suspension to meet stiff roads conditions in India."

The car is based on Honda's City platform and will have a high 70% localisation. Jazz is likely to endorse Honda pioneered V-Tec technology for high fuel efficiency, which is already used in the Honda City engine. Jazz will also qualify for the concessional 8% excise duty under government's small car definition.

"We will try to pass the benefit of lower excise duty on Jazz but 30% of its components are imported and the weak rupee may lead to a higher price," Mr Takedagawa said. He however added that he company is not positioning Jazz as a volume generator and its best-selling sedan City will remain the largest car for Honda in India.

Jazz will have customisation option for navigation system, in-car entertainment, sporty tyres and other gizmos at the dealer level. It will be launched with manual transmission and will be studded with an automatic transmission later.

According to sources in the automobile market, Honda could also launch a diesel variant of Jazz in the next few years. The company is targeting smaller cities and towns for the new car and plans to add 10 more dealerships in the next one year to the current tally of 106 across the country.

Preeti_20

Has it been launched in India yet? I heard it was a new car coming soon, but wasn't sure when it would be out!

davidchimwaza

Excellent car this honda jazz. I am loviing it.

Preeti_20

A majority of Honda cars are good, but quite expensive.

Preeti_20

I saw a program on tv yesterday where they were showing the Honda Jazz, its looks ok, but i think it does make different seeing the car in reality than on tv. As im finding it hard to see what the height it, it seems like its in the middle of a van type and a small car height.

One thing is really liked about the car was it had drink holders on either sides of the car for driver and passenger which is good, and it also seemed very spacious.

just4kix

The car is very expensive for the target segment. For nearly 8 lakhs (in Pune), all you get is a 5 door hatchback. Honda or not, I will not consider it. But that is my opinion.

Preeti_20

I don't know much about the prices of cars, but isn't this Honda cheaper than normal compared to other Honda cars, being the name i would have expected it to be a bit more the price range.

just4kix

Yes, Preeti. The Honda Jazz is cheaper that Honda City which is cheaper that Civic which in turn is cheaper than Accord and so on.

But all these are catering to different segments.

The Jazz is catering to the B+ segment (5-door premium hatchbacks). It is competing with the likes of Skoda Fabia, i20, Swift, etc. The features, space, power, luxury, etc. is more or less in line with the rest of these models.

Priced at nearly 8 lakhs, it is the most expensive of the lot. Why, the SX4-ZXI (top end model) is 8.11 lakhs and is available with:

• Rs. 15,000/- company discount
• Rs. 15,000/- corporate discount
• Rs. 15,000/- exchange discount
• Rs. 2,000/- dealer discount on accessories
• 4.5% Finance Payout

The i20 is also a damn good car - I was quite impressed except for the disappointment on price (Rs. 6.22 lakhs on road in Pune).

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players_player

just wanted to say that all cars look the same to me. but never the less jazz is pretty neat with regards to looks.

Preeti_20

God that's expensive for Hyundai car, but nothing is cheap these days! But still there are a lot of sales, and people get what they need even if it means getting it on a loan.

Dragon

Right Said J4k, Jazz looks great but the price set are really too high. I felt the same for Fabia, Normally B segment car are designed for upper-middle/middle class families that's why prices of this segment cars should not exceed say 5 lacs, IMO.