Honda Jazz to be unveiled at the Auto Expo 2014

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Honda will unveil the all-new Jazz at the Auto Expo 2014; the new Jazz has clinched the best-selling car title in Japan and decimated the established competition. The Jazz will be the third launch of 2014 for the Japanese car maker in India.

In India, the Jazz was launched with a rather high sticker price but despite it being a great product, it failed to post decent numbers on the sales chart. The lack of a diesel engine and the exorbitant price decreased the sales of the car and it never got the recognition it deserved. However in 2011, it was relaunched with new variants and most importantly a big price cut followed. This development immediately put it back on track and resulted in big waiting periods, but it was not easy to produce the expensive Jazz at that price-point and it was axed finally. 

Honda, this time, is ready to give the Jazz another lease of life and might be slotted below the Amaze sedan. The Jazz, along with the Mobilio will rollout of the company’s new facility in Tapukara, Rajasthan. 

The all-new Jazz (Fit in Japan) is available in three variants in Japan. There are choices of three powertains, with AWD available as an option on all variants. The Fit F, L, sport a 1.3-litre and a 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine respectively, the S is the hybrid model, which has an electric motor working in tandem with the 1.5-litre i-VTEC mill. But in India, the car will be powered by the 1.2-litre i-VTEC engine and the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel mill is mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The Jazz will be the first small car of the Honda range in India to get the 98bhp oil burner and might post stellar performance and efficiency figures. Although, there are no confirmations about an automatic transmission, later on it could be made available but only with the petrol engine.

The Jazz has formidable competition in its segment as the Hyundai i20 and the VW Polo both have a cult following and are very desirable. The advent of Jazz could have the competition re-thinking their product strategies and we may not be surprised if it ends up being the best-seller in the segment.