Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. (HSCI), one of the leading manufacturers of passenger cars in India, is ready to launch the all new Honda Jazz on 18th August. This globally recognised model has already received a facelift in the western markets recently. Now it is going to ramp on the Indian road. Reports suggest that HSCI is doing testing-rounds of the facelift Jazz on the streets of Chennai, India.
The new car is expected to have a better centre console and instrumentation cluster. It will have innovative headlight and taillight design, new black front grille and front bumpers. The interiors will have a slight tweak with a different colour for the dashboard, preferably a darker tone. Moreover, the climate control and air vents are likely to have chrome outlines.
Furthermore, the new car might possess 90 bhp, 1.2 Litre i-VTEC engine instead of the previous 1.5 Litre i-VTEC engine. The spyshots reveal that the exterior has not undergone any considerable change, at least from the rear. Honda may also add a CVT tranny to the Jazz and make it a little bit more charismatic model. All these features will hopefully make the hatchback a more sensible option, to the likes of Hyundai i20 and Skoda Febia.
The present Honda Jazz's production has been almost discontinued by the company, with the new Honda Jazz facelift model ready to capture the Indian market. HSCI is also expected to declare the new prices for the Honda Jazz soon. It is hoped that the price range will be significantly lower than the 'official’ prices mentioned on the website of HSCI. Honda has been working hard on localising components for its Indian line-up and has managed to gain 90% localisation for the Jazz Hatchback.
Speculations are there that the new Jazz will be priced somewhere near the discounted prices of the current Jazz. HSCI offered massive discounts of up to Rs. 1.75 lacs on Honda Jazz Hatchback at the Honda dealers' end. Consequently, the Honda Jazz Hatchback went on a fire sale some weeks ago. The new price is expected to be in the range of Rs. 5.5 lacs to 7.5 lacs.
At a time when almost all carmakers are reporting decline in sales due to the hike in interest rates and fuel prices, HSCI has announced a growth of 1% in its sales. The official site of the company posts in its press release column that “Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. (HSCI), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, sold 4,725 units in the month of July 2011 as against 4,685 units during the corresponding month last year registering a growth of 1%“. Advance bookings for the new Jazz have already begun with few Honda dealers, unofficially, through a token advance of INR 25,000. The official booking for the newer and better Honda Jazz is supposed to be declared soon after the launch of the stylish and sleek model. HSCI has great hopes from the new Jazz as it may give a good shove to the company's sales.
