Honda plans to bring globally successful MPV Freed to take on Toyota Innova in India (Not for North America)

By Chanchal Pal Chauhan

NEW DELHI: After challenging market leader Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire with Amaze in the compact sedan segment, Japanese carmaker Honda plans to take on the country's best-selling multi-purpose vehicle Toyota Innova by driving in a second utility vehicle in 2016.

Honda Car India plans to bring in the next generation of its globally successful MPV Freed, which is expected to be launched in ASEAN markets mid next year, to take on the Innova, two people familiar with the development said. It will follow Honda Mobilio, a 7-seater crossover utility vehicle being built on the Brio hatchback platform that would be unveiled at Delhi Auto Expo in February.

Honda and Toyota are working on the next-generation Freed and Innova, respectively, with both due for full model change. "Both cars are under design right now and it would interesting to see how Honda takes on an well established product which was ruling the market with no competition since its debut," said a person familiar with India strategy of both the carmakers.

A Honda Car India spokesperson, however, said the company currently does not have any plans to launch the Freed in India. "However, we are actively looking at the MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) segment and plan to launch the Honda Mobilio next year," the spokesperson said. The two industry insiders quoted earlier, however, said the Freed will hit the Indian market two years down the line.

Launched in 2005, Innova has been Toyota's most successful vehicle in India, having sold around 4.5 lakh units till November. It's priced between Rs9.77 lakh to Rs15.06 lakh, exshowroom in Delhi. Analysts tracking the automotive market say Freed would bring real competition to Innova if it gets its pricing right.

"This segment was untouched till date as Innova was perhaps the leader with almost no competition. Now it would be interesting to see how Honda takes this rivalry with an established product going forward, "Amit Kaushik, principal analyst-autos at global consultancy service IHS Automotive, said.

Source;
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/auto/automobiles/honda-plans-to-bring-globally-successful-mpv-freed-to-take-on-toyota-innova-in-india/articleshow/27667072.cms

The Honda Jade is the Civic Wagon You’ve Always Wanted (Not for North America)

At the Shanghai Auto Show Honda unveiled a Jade MPV, thinking it was an ugly looking concept (it was snot green, after all) I passed it by. Never judge a book by its appearances apparently as the Honda Jade is now running down Dongfeng-Honda’s production lines, it uses the platform from the Honda Civic as well as the Civic’s drive train, furthermore it has six seats.

The Jade is up against the Mazda 5, another six seater MPV which seats its occupants in rows of three and has sliding doors and is obviously aimed at home users whilst the bigger Honda Oddysey will be aimed at those business users. Pricing hasn’t been announced but it is thought the base model will be from around 150,000RMB and rising, possibly to as high as 220,000RMB for the top spec model. Oddly base models come with a 5 speed auto as used elsewhere in the Honda line up but the top spec models use CVT gearboxes.

As a dad that is currently looking at new seven seat vehicles for a 2014 purchase I cant bring myself to sit in any MPV’s from the likes of Ford or Kia, they all just seem too ‘white collar, mid 30′s, growing a beer belly‘, but this Jade seems like its a mixture of wagon and people hauler, plus its Civic based so it probably drives half decently. Guess I’ll have to give this a real look at early next year!
Pictures from autohome.com.cn

Source;
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2013/07/the-honda-jade-is-the-civic-wagon-youve-always-wanted/

Honda Brio-based MPV unveiled

Honda has just revealed the sketches of its new mini-MPV (Codename: 2NH) in Indonesia. Known as a ‘low’ MPV or LMPV, the sketch clearly shows a car with a comparatively low-slung roof and an elongated wheelbase. Imagine a Maruti Ertiga with a lower roof and you won’t be too far off the mark.

The styling, however, is far more aggressive. The nose, especially the headlights and the grille, are clearly Brio-like, but the car is sat on a block-like base, put there in an effort to disguise the otherwise odd dimensions. Gaping large inlets are present in the front and rear bumper, the designers have used a kink in the window line to visually reduce the length of the car and big wheel arches have also been used to further accentuate this. The heavily flared wheel arch at the rear, with its central ridgeline, is in fact likely to be the talking point of this car. The sketch also reveals a very interesting ‘floating D pillar’ that hovers above the shoulder line. It however remains to be seen if this feature makes it to production.

Known as Asia’s MPV haven, Indonesia is the home to many MPVs. Toyota’s Innova is produced there, our own Maruti Ertiga is sold in that market and there are a raft of other MPVs on sale there too. Honda’s Low MPV (code: 2NH) will also be produced there first, Indonesia likely to be the launch market. India however will be next.

Details of the interior are sketchy, but the Brio’s dashboard is likely to be carried over. Insiders say there will be plenty of luggage space present even with all three rows being used by passengers.

Where Honda’s mini-MPV is likely to score well too is in the engine department. Unlike Maruti’s Ertiga, that suffers from a bit of turbo lag owing to the small displacement 1248cc diesel engine used, this car will come powered by Honda’s 1500cc 100bhp motor that delivers instant throttle responses and plenty of torque. The 2NH is also likely to use an updated version of the City’s current 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol motor because it is unlikely to be less than four meters long.

With three rows of seats, Honda’s excellent packaging skills, aggressive styling and a strong diesel engine under the hood, Honda’s mini-MPV will surely give the Ertiga a run for its money. Expect to see the car in India first at the Auto Expo in January 2014, with the production version hitting our shores towards the middle of next year.

Source;
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Autos/Latest-News/Honda-Brio-based-MPV-unveiled/Article1-1094847.aspx

Honda Concept M introduced at 2013 Auto Shanghai

An MPV for Chinese market

Honda has officially revealed in Shanghai today the Concept M, following an announcement made about two weeks ago.

It represents a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) developed specifically for the local Chinese market. It was designed by the Automobile R&D Center of Honda R&D in Japan and gives us a clue about an upcoming model which will be launched in China soon.

Honda promises to bring a "new-value vehicle that offers the attributes of a passenger car while adding new value through the realization of a comfortable and spacious cabin". It has one of the busiest designs ever seen on an MPV, especially when looking at the front and rear fascias.

Since this is just a concept, we expect the production version to look significantly toned down, but not necessarily in a good way judging by the looks of the Crider which is essentially a production version of the quite appealing Concept C.

Source;
http://www.worldcarfans.com/113042056786/honda-concept-m-introduced-at-2013-auto-shanghai-video

Honda exploring options to foray into multi-purpose vehicle segment in India

Japanese car maker Honda is exploring the possibility to foray into the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) segment in India, a top company official said today.

"Honda is mulling a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle. And we are, at this moment, studying the market whether we have to launch it or not...," Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president of sales and marketing of Honda Cars India, told reporters here.

He further said: "See, to have a product, we must meet all the conditions -- what are people looking for, style, space. So we have to match everything. We actually decide whether we can actually bring it or not. That's the study we are doing now."

"We are looking at two options -- one it is a seven seater multi-purpose vehicle and the other is of course, compact sports utility vehicle. That concept has already been developed and it has been displayed at Detroit Motor Show in January this year," he added.

Asked whether people were shifting towards petrol car as diesel prices have been constantly increasing in the past, he said: "We hear from the industry that there is a slight shift (on preference to petrol cars from diesel)."

To a query on whether it was possible to launch diesel variants of the company's existing models including -- Brio, City using the same 1.5 litre diesel engine, Mr Sen said: "This engine will not be fitted in any of our current models. It will be only for our new models. When City was designed, it was designed to carry a petrol engine. The cost of modification for diesel engine is fairly high...So, we decided not to."

Mr Sen, who launched the company's mid-size sedan Amaze, said: "With the launch of Amaze we are entering into a new segment, which we were not present all these years."

It is priced between Rs. 5.04 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for entry-level petrol and Rs. 7.68 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for top-end diesel variant.

"The other big significance of the launch of Amaze is, it comes with Diesel engine. Whenever (in future) we launch new models, they may carry this (diesel) engine as well," he said.

Noting that the company since its nationwide launch of Amaze has got good response, he said, the company may retail about 4,000 to 5,000 due to capacity constraints at its manufacturing facility.

To a query, he said the company would also expand its presence to 102 cities by this financial year compared to the existing 97 cities.

"At this moment we are present in 97 cities. So tier I and II are of course completely covered. Our focus is to go further down across 100 cities soon within this year," he said, adding the company would focus on sales of Amaze in the domestic market.

"Unlike many other companies, our opportunity to exports is not huge. I think Honda has about 150 factories across the world. For time being no specific plans (on exports), we are going to focus on domestic market," he said. 

Source;
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-honda-exploring-options-to-foray-into-multi-purpose-vehicle-segment-in-india-320952