The facelifted Honda Jazz’s superb pricing and its implications for Honda!

All New Honda City

Over the past couple of years, Honda seemed to have lost the plot in India completely. Over reliance on the petrol model portfolio along with premium pricing saw sales dwindling rapidly even as the double whammy of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami earlier this year meant that the automaker was facing an uphill battle not just in India, but globally as well. Adding to Honda’s woes, a recall of its flagship model, the all new Honda City, over faulty valve shims only compounded thee brand’s problems in India and raised question over Honda’s premium pricing for the perceived quality it offered. Things however have changed rapidly over the past couple of months, and have taken a very positive turn.

The fightback began with Honda cutting Honda City prices by a whopping INR 66,000 on account 0f increased localization resulting in cost savings. Immediately, Honda City sales picked up and the car is now the second largest selling sedan in its category, only behind the Hyundai Verna Fluidic. The price cut for the City, in a sense was quite unlike Honda, a brand which always has commanded a significant premium in the Indian market for the high perceived quality. Even so, it reflected the stark reality of the Indian car market, a place that is extremely competitive with rival brands offering similar quality to that of Honda at hugely competitive prices.

Honda Jazz Facelift

The Indian car buyer too, being the biggest beneficiary of heightened competition has responded accordingly. After the Honda City’s price cut, Honda pulled off another big, big surprise when the Honda Jazz saw a massive discount to the tune of INR 1.75 Lakhs on account of stock clearance, to make way for the facelifted model. While the move left plenty of existing Honda Jazz owners fuming, it also heralded a new strategy for Honda, of that of volumes. Even as the folks who bought the Jazz at the hugely discounted prices are grinning from ear to ear, Honda has just unveiled the facelifted model of the Honda Jazz for a killer starting price of INR 5.5 Lakhs.

At that price, the Honda Jazz, which has always been a high quality and hugely practical upmarket hatchback, seems like a very good buy for those looking for a high quality and spacious petrol hatchback. So, expect Jazz sales to pick up quite dramatically over the next few months. However, as the bookings for the new Maruti Suzuki Swift Diesel has demonstrated with a 80:20 split in bookings in favor of the diesel, the Honda Jazz, being available only with a petrol engine might still be a marginal seller, although it numbers may be much higher than the abysmal numbers it has been doing before the price cut.

Honda Brio Small Car

The other big takeaway from the Honda Jazz’s terrific pricing is the fact that Honda has now given itself plenty of breathing space to price the upcoming Honda Brio Hatchback very competitively. The Honda Brio Hatchback is expected to be launched sometime next month, and with the Honda Jazz beginning at INR 5.5 Lakhs, there’s a fat chance that the Honda Brio could be priced at least a Lakh lesser, at around INR 4.5 Lakhs, which looks very alluring indeed, given that the car in question is a Honda. That said, the Brio Hatchback, while having the potential to bring in very decent volumes for Honda at that price point, also misses a diesel engine option.

However, Honda could probably detune the 90 Bhp-1.2 liter i-VTEC petrol engine in order to extract the best mileage out of the Brio. Also, since the Brio is significantly lighter than the Jazz expect the fuel efficiency number to be better than the Jazz right from the word go. If Honda indeed does some detuning, which it should ideally do in the interest of the masses who want the best fuel economy, the Brio could be one of the most frugal petrol cars in India this side of the Tata Nano. In essence, the Honda Jazz’s killer price point has opened up a raft of possibilities for the Honda brand in India. Now, can we please have diesel engines, Honda?

Honda SIEL’s Tapukara unit to start assembly in 2-3 years

Honda Jazz

Honda SIEL Cars India Limited (HSCI) will begin rolling off new cars from its Rajasthan facility in the next 2-3 years. The second manufacturing unit of the Japanese car maker will be up and running in the next couple of years which will help reduce the load on their Noida facility. The new plant is coming up in Tapukara in Rajasthan. Honda has had the plan of starting its new plant but was put on hold by the automaker since 2008. The plant has been partially operational since then though and has been producing components.

Honda is currently not utilizing the full capacity of the Greater Noida unit and the decision to start assembly at the new plant will only be taken when the current plant capacity is reached. This according to Honda, might be necessary in the next 2-3 years time. The Greater Noida unit has a maximum capacity of 1.2 lakh units.

Honda Brio Hatchback

The automaker has invested Rs 1000 crore to setup the new Tapukara plant which has an installed capacity of 60,000 units per annum. Honda had also injected an additional Rs 250 crore in the Tapukara unit to expand the powertrain division to cater to the Honda Brio small car. Honda had recently slashed the prices of the Honda Jazz and the City which attracted a substantial crowd to Honda showrooms.

The new Jazz to has been competitively priced compared to heavy weights like the new Maruti Suzuki Swift and the Ford Figo. The absence of a diesel though might hurt its sales a bit. But, given the popularity of the Jazz and the buzz that has built up over the Honda Brio, the sales could increase over the next few years and the new assembly unit will only make matters

Honda Siel rolls out new Jazz at Rs 5.5 lakh

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) today launched refreshed premium hatchback, ‘Jazz’, priced lower than its existing model, at Rs 5.5 lakh to Rs 6.06 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

This A2 segment car, powered by a 1.2 litre petrol engine, gives a mileage of 16.7 kmpl.

“Honda Brio which starts production next month will, bring considerable economies of scope and scale to our operations as Jazz and Brio use the same engine. This combined with our supply chain efficiencies, R&D effort and manufacturing efficiencies will considerably bring down cost,” said Mr Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing).

“The new Jazz is 76 per cent localised. With Brio our localisation level will be over 80 per cent,” he added.

The company at present utilises 60 per cent of the 100,000 cars capacity of its Noida plant.

“The company faced severe supply-side crunch owing to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Till last financial year we were selling nearly 500 Jazz per month, but the figure almost halved during April-June 2011, owing to the crises,” said Mr Sen.

“We hope to get back to our original sales number in next three months,” he added.

The new Jazz has three variants and is available in five different colours. It will be sold across 80 cities and 120 dealerships.

The existing ‘Jazz’, which was launched in 2009, was priced between Rs 7.12 lakh and Rs 7.56 lakh. Other cars in the segment include: Maruti Swift, Hyundai i20, Volkswagon Polo and Skoda Fabia.

The new Honda Brio revealed

The Japanese carmaker that is still the benchmark in affordable luxury in India, burnt its hands with its first small car Jazz two years ago. But it is back, with a smaller, meaner and more importantly a cheaper product, what would be its second small car-the Brio. To be launched on September 27, India would only be the second market for the car but pose the biggest challenge in its global run.

We don’t know the pricing of the car yet, neither do we know how many variants it will have (my guess is 3). So lets broadly look at what we know about the car.

Exteriors
Honda cars have a way of appearing small than what they actually are but even then the Brio is a really really small car….and looks even more so. Among its competitors (wift, Polo, Liva and i20) it is by far the shortest has the least width and is taller than only the Polo.

Headlamp and grille
All the elements also point towards how small the car is. It has a short chrome grille with the honda logo emblazoned on it takes up almost the entire space and even the almond shaped headlamps are large in context but small in comparison.

Tail lamps
This is a sort of a neglected area in small cars almost as if manufacturers get bored by the time they make it to the back. Which is ironic, because these are small cars after all and hence there is less real estate to design.

The Brio’s tail lamps however, are one of its more striking features. The traingular cluster fits in neatly at the rear corner of the car. It gels so well with the car that if it would not glow, you may even miss its presence.

Boot lid
Which brings us to the boot lid, which I am sure would be a talking point. The Brio does not have a conventional boot lid and its hatch is comprised of just the large glass that goes all the way up. As such the frame is high which is not quite a good thing for loading-unloading, but the unconventional lid sure gives the car a character.

Alloys
We know for a fact that the car will not get alloys as standard but the ones that are there on the top end variants are pretty basic to look at. Surely, the Swift’s alloys have set the benchmark here.

Interiors
The dash board and the instrument cluster are basic and minimalist but it not a design harakiri on the lines of the Liva. The puritans may be repelled by the evident cost cutting measures employed here, but it still is very functional. It has a two tone black and white instrument panel and no bluetooth. But the 2 din music system offers USB connectivity.

There is enough space for knick knacks and 4 bottle holders that can hold full size bottles. The glovebox however is small and lacks a chiller (unlike Liva).

Rear leg room
Space at the back is very good for 2 adults despite its small dimensions. What helps is that enough attention is paid to the ease of entry and exit at the back. The rear doors are unnaturally small compared to the front, but it does not hamper movement that much.

Engine
The most powerful in its class. The 1.2 litre Ivtec engine is the same that powers the much bigger Jazz. It belts out 88 bhp with a corresponding torque of 109 NM. Considering that the car is small and also light, this is a very compelling powertrain.

Boot space
At 175 litres, Brio’s achilles heel. Honda hopes India would quit its bad habit of travelling heavy and young families will take a liking to its other facets. The high loading position mentioned above also means accesing that boot is not an easy exercise. Not a disappointment that way, but a little more space would not hurt.

Fuel economy
Its small, its light, and it has a big heart, surely its frugal too. In Thailand which is Brio’s first market, it is sold as an eco car that means it boasts of an economy of 20 kmpl. In India the engine is retuned sliglhltly to make it more revv happy and hence economy is slightly lower at 18.4 kmpl. It is lower than the new Swift but not by much.

Verdict
Jury is out now, and the judgement is awaited. My hunch is, prices would start at Rs 3.99 lakh or maybe even lower. The top end with ABS and airbags should come at around 4.6 lakh ex showroom. Anything more, and I would root for the Jazz instead. Now that it costs only Rs 5.5 lakh (ex shopwroom with airbags, ABS) I already am.

Honda Brio Hatchback launch scheduled for 27th September, 2011!

Honda Brio Hatchback

Honda’s price warrior and volumes puller, the Brio Hatchback, is all set to be launched in India on the 27th of Sepetember, 2011, just ahead of the Indian festive season which kicks off in early October. India is the second market in which the Honda Brio Hatchback will be launched, after the Thai market, in which it was launched earlier this year.

First showcased at the 2010 Indian Auto Expo, the Honda Brio will finally become a reality after more than 18 months after it was first unveiled to great interest amongst the Indian car buying populace. However, a lot of things have changed from the 2010 Indian Auto Expo to now.

The Indian car market, which saw some giddying sales highs in the later part of 2010 and until the middle of 2011 in currently in the midst of a slowdown. Hence, the focus will be of affordability and fuel economy, both factors which the Honda Brio is said to pack in.

Honda Brio Hatchback

Honda has looked at increased localzation to bring the Brio’s price down to the all important 4 Lakh mark for the base variant. Also, Honda has been open in making a shift in its usual strategy of offering cars loaded with safety features. In the Brio, the base variant will come only with ABS, thus dispensing with airbags to sit at a more affordable price tag.

Also. the Brio’s gear ratios have been suitably altered for squeezing out more fuel economy from the 1.2 Liter i-VTEC engine, which is the most powerful and torquey in its class.The car also comes with beige interiors, which usually are a major draw amongst Indian car buyers despite beige interiors being tough to maintain.

At a price point in the whereabouts of INR 4 Lakhs, the Honda badge on the bonnet is expected to be a major allure for first time car buyers, who until the arrival of the Brio wouldn’t have been able to afford Honda’s other higher priced products. Therefore, the Honda Brio Hatchback holds tremendous potential for Brand Honda in India.