Sources - Honda Brio Amaze has reached ARAI

Sources have confirmed to IndianAutosBlog.com that the Honda Brio Amaze has landed in India. Petrol and diesel avatars are sent to ARAI’s testing facility in Pune for the homologation process.

The Honda Brio Amaze is a sedan version of the popular Brio hatchback. It was fully developed by Honda Thailand and showcased to the media on November 23rd, 2012.

The Brio Amaze gets a new front grille, new alloy wheels, redesigned rear door, and an all-new boot and rear fascia. Honda engineers have improved the rear seat experience using a new cushion and a slightly longer wheelbase. It was lauded by the automotive press for its practicality and fun-to-drive nature.

The biggest news about the Brio Amaze is the fact that it will be Honda's first ever diesel car for the Indian market. A 1.5-liter i-DTEC, EarthDreams inspired diesel engine lies under the nose and it carries the hope of Honda finally cracking the pro-diesel Indian market.

Honda India will also offer a petrol variant with a 1.2L iVTEC engine borrowed from the hatchback. The petrol variant will also come in an automatic avatar with a 5-speed torque converter unit borrowed from the elder sister City. The launch of the Honda Brio Amaze is expected as early as first week of April.

On the face of it, the Brio Amaze has success written all over it. But when you look at its major rival - Maruti Suzuki Dzire which has no problems clocking 10,000+ units every month - the challenge does seem to get a bit daunting.

Adding to that, we already know that this segment is going to be soon flooded with the Mahindra Verito CS and Tata Vista CS – two very popular brands in the sedan segment. Plus, the declining interest in a humdrum sedan bodystyle will not help matters. The Honda Brio Amaze will certainly have to fight its heart out for survival and we're sure that it will.