Honda Siel Cars India has announced that it will launch its Jazz hatchback model in the middle of this year. The car will be launched in June- July 2009. Honda is planning to occupy a larger market share in the country and thus it plans to launch a small car in the country. Small car segment accounts for nearly two-third of the overall car sales in India. Jazz will be the cheapest model in Honda’s product portfolio in the country and will further help the company to boost its sales figures in India.
“The Jazz will be a premium segment hatchback and we do not expect that it will overcome the sales numbers of the City sedan in India,” said Honda representative Masahiro Takedagawa. “It will have an engine specifically made for the Indian market. We are looking at a June-July launch,” he added.
The new Jazz shares its platform with Honda City and is expected to be powered by a 1200cc petrol i-VTEC engine. It will be competing directly with the Skoda Fabia, Hyundai i20 and the yet-to-be-launched Fiat Grande Punto. “We have studied the market and are quite confident about our selling abilities. In Thailand, the Jazz is priced higher than our City model,” said Jnaneswar Sen, vice-president (sales and marketing), HSCI.
