As we had reported earlier, the Honda Vezel will make it to the US under a different name. It could be called the Honda 'HR-V' as Autoguide reports that Honda has filed a trademark for that particular name in the US.
For USA, the crossover would be manufactured at Honda’s new plant in Mexico, which has an installed capacity of 200,000 units per annum. According to the company, the Vezel will account for more than half the production. Honda had also previously confirmed that the American version would be powered by the all-new VTEC turbo engines.
The VTEC turbo engines were unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show in 1.0-liter 3-cylinder, 1.5-liter 4-cylinder and 2.0-liter 4-cylinder layouts.
The compact crossover will also make its way into Europe soon, where it will compete against the likes of the Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Chevrolet Trax.
The Vezel was launched in Japan last December and was an immediate success, garnering around 25,000 bookings in 24 days. Honda sells the Vezel in Japan in three variants. There’s the Vezel X, which is a petrol only variant, the Vezel Hybrid XL, a four wheel drive hybrid model, and the Vezel Hybrid X, a front-wheel drive variant.
The Vezel X is powered by a 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine, while the XL and hybrid X variants get an electric motor to assist this engine along with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission.
[Source - Autoguide]
