Three days ago, Honda Thailand released a second teaser image of the Brio Sedan and got the Indian motoring press in total frenzy over the Japanese automakers first diesel model for the country. Now, a Thai website has spotted the car testing in full camouflage on the streets of Thailand.
The spy shots are only of the rear end of the car, the details of which are already known due to the teaser picture being exactly the same. Due to the heavy camouflage not much else can be ascertained from the picture.
However, some details of the car are already out. We know that this compact sedan has been designed with the tried and tested formula of boot on hatch and is sub-four metre in length. Codenamed the 2TP, it will use the same 1.2-litre petrol engine that powers the Jazz hatchback. In the diesel guise, the 2TP will get a tweaked version of the four-cylinder 1.6-litre i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ unit; with displacement of less than 1.5-litre to avail tax concessions.
Keeping in line with Honda Japan CEO Takanobu Ito's goals, Honda India will localise many of the engine components to reduce costs allowing for a competitive price. Honda will be banking heavily on this model to revive its sales which fell drastically after the deregulation of petrol prices around a year ago.
The Brio sedan will be launched in March 2013 and will compete with the likes of the Mahindra Verito CS, Tata Indigo eCS, Swift Dzire and the Toyota Etios. Honda has time and again confirmed than none of the current models will get diesel engines. This means that we can expect refreshed versions of almost all models in the year and a half.
Image source:patnip.com
