Indian Autos blog

So many glitzy launches have taken place at Geneva. Honda has also entered the party showing a hot version of the Honda Jazz. Called the Honda Jazz Si, it is Honda attempt to make the Jazz, a conventional family car, into a hot hatch. Developed by Honda Research and Development Europe, the Honda Jazz Si benefits from:

Exteriors

• Revised front and rear bumpers
• Deep valances and prominent side skirts
• 16’ inch alloy wheels with low profile tyres
• Tinted privacy glass

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At the Frankfurt Motorshow, Honda may not have garnered as many eyeballs as let’s say the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider but they did manage to bring some interesting EV technology to the show. Honda teased the ‘Honda EV’ concept which is essentially an EV concept based on the our very own Jazz.

The basic idea of the Jazz EV is to meet to meet the daily driving needs of a family within the city. As you can see from the picture, the Honda EV is made to look very futuristic with LED headlamps, a new bumper and some EV decals on the side. But the subtle traces of Jazz are still live and kicking.

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August 2011 has been an astonishingly amazing month for Honda Siel India. First, the Honda City has reclaimed its top position in the B+/C sedan market.

The news sounds even better when you know that this little sedan is not offered in a diesel option and its competitors have diesel variant. In a market where diesel is cheaper than petrol and gains advantage every now and then with a petrol price hike, a petrol car outselling the diesel rivals certainly talks volumes of Honda’s brand pull.

Just when we thought the news couldn’t get any better, we had a look at the Jazz’s sales figures and we were surprised to know that the Jazz sold 600 units in August. The last time we saw Jazz selling 600 odd units was way back in September 2010. Since then the sales of the Jazz were always below par, languishing at the bottom with the Chevrolet Aveo U-VA.

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There are two new cars for those petrol premium hatch buyers today in India. The first is of course the new Swift which has had a very strong start with 50k+ bookings and then there’s the cut-price Honda Jazz that lacks a diesel but makes up for that more with an amazing sticker price and huge amounts of space.

The Jazz has almost been down segmented and will piggyback on the Honda brand image in India.

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Honda launched the facelift version of the Jazz today morning in Delhi here at a famous hotel. The Jazz which is a globally successful premium hatch has been selling in India since mid-2009 but could never penetrate its segment due to extremely high prices.

The car won a lot of admirers but apart from the Honda badge and the confidence that comes with it, there was nothing the competition didn’t offer.

Recently Honda, in a stock clearance sale, slashed prices of the Jazz by more than 1.5 lac so that the old car could make way for the new one. The operation was successful as it did take more than a week for the stagnating cars to vanish from showroom yards.

At the press conference today Honda representatives mentioned that they are in a state of recovery from the Japanese quakes that took lives and wiped out installations in early March. It could take them a few months for reaching normal production levels. Honda said it’s ‘better than before but not normal’.

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Honda launched the Jazz facelift today morning in New Delhi and we managed to bring you prices, features and the press release first. Following that, here are some images captured at the event.

Priced starting at 5.5 lakh rupees, the Jazz will pull petrol customers from Toyota, Maruti and Hyundai. Since a diesel engine is still out of reach, the extent of the demolition Honda Jazz will manage will be limited.

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We are sure you must have heard about the recent 1.75 lakh rupees discount on the Honda Jazz. Turns out, it was a stock clearance sale because Honda is launching a facelift model of the premium hatchback Jazz on August 18. So what’s in store for the new Jazz you ask?

The Jazz facelift will sport new headlight and taillight design, new black front grille, new bonnet and front bumpers. The interiors will see a change of dashboard colors along with some chrome rings on AC vents. Overall, it is not a major departure from the current Jazz but a mid life facelift.

The engine will be the same 1.2-liter i-VTEC unit churning out 90 PS but it will be tuned to give better fuel economy. There are rumors that Honda India has localized quite a few components for the new Jazz. So expect the prices to be rationalized.

An anonymous IndianAutosBlog.com reader has tipped us on the variants and features of the Jazz facelift.

Honda Jazz facelift colors – Black, white, silver, rallye red and urban titanium metallic.

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A short while back, Honda announced a discount of up to 1.7 lacs on the Jazz. High price was the only factor that stopped customers from buying it and once the price fell, cars began vanishing from every Honda showroom in the country. It is being rumored that the heavy discount was more of a stock clearance sale and the refreshed Jazz will follow soon.

The new Honda Jazz is a minor facelift. People who’ve recently bought the Jazz have nothing to worry about as this is a cosmetically updated product.

The new Jazz comes with redesigned bumpers said to reduce air drag, new grille and headlights, rear lights with modified lenses and a choice of 2 new exterior colors – Deep Sapphire Blue and Ionized Bronze.

Inside, the new Jazz sports a darker color scheme, new seat fabrics (leather upholstery is optional), chromed trim pieces and orange dash lighting. Suspension was also worked on by engineers.

As Honda sold the current 1.2L engine at a high price we do not expect a 1.5L or an automatic transmission though many people who have bought the car have complained of it being underpowered. The same 1.2L i-VTEC engine will perform duties on the Jazz facelift.

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