The Hindu Business Line : Tune into Honda Jazz

Take a long hard look at this picture of the new Honda Fit photographed at the ongoing Tokyo Motor Show. This is the premium hatch that Honda Siel Cars is planning to launch in India next year as the Honda Jazz.

The 2008 version of the Jazz, sold as the Fit in Japan, is to be introduced in many markets abroad next year, including the US, Thailand and India. The new Jazz is expected to roll out of Honda Siel Cars’ new Rajasthan plant , which is currently under construction.

Compared to the previous version, the new 2008 model is marginally bigger — the overall length and wheelbase being about 65mm to 50mm more. The overall width and height of the new hatch remains the same as its previous version.

Further, with the overall length being 3,900mm, the new Jazz will fall within the definition of a small car as stipulated by the Government for being eligible for the lower excise duty benefit.

The new car’s ground clearance for the international market is 150mm, and this could be raised to about 160mm to make it more capable of handling Indian road conditions.

The current version of the Jazz in markets such as Thailand is offered with the same engines that power the City too. The two engines in the India-spec City ZX are the 1.5-litre, 8-valve, i-DSI engine and the similar sized 16-valve, VTEC engine.

However, the new version of the Jazz or the Fit, is offered with two new engines — a 1.3-litre SOHC, i-VTEC engine for the base variants, and a new 1.5-litre, i-VTEC engine that generates 120PS of peak power in the RS variant of the Fit.

While the new 1.3-litre (100bhp) engine is one of the engines that is most likely to make it here after being slightly re-rated, rumours also have it that Honda is in the process of developing a new 1.1-litre engine using the i-DSI technology platform for the India-spec Jazz.

This smaller engine would also enable the car to be eligible for the lower excise duty applicable to small cars.

S. Muralidhar