Honda has been able to boost market share tremendously with the launch of its first diesel car in India, the Amaze. The Japanese automaker has gone into aggressive mode and plans to launch a slew of cars in the coming years. The next launch from Honda is most likely going to be the next generation Jazz. The current generation Jazz has been discontinued from the market as the company makes space at its production facility to churn out more units of the Amaze, which is already commanding a waiting period of four months for some variants.
The next generation Honda Jazz will be launched in the first half of 2014, followed by the Jazz based Urban compact SUV. Honda’s focus is firmly on emerging market products, based on the Brio and Jazz platform. The company also plans to launch the next generation City, diesel-powered Brio and Brio based MPV next year, as their Rajasthan facility doubles production capacity by mid-2014. The 2014 Honda Jazz will be significantly bigger than its predecessor, which already has generous interior dimensions.
The all new Jazz will sit alongside the Amaze in Honda’s Indian portfolio. The vehicle will be positioned at those who want a premium hatchback which gives similar amount of cabin space as a sedan. Thus the next generation Jazz will cannibalise sales of the Amaze but Honda has little to worry as long as overall sales are boosted. With the market now getting mature day by day, we can expect premium hatchbacks to have high demand. The upcoming Jazz will be powered by a 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engine, the same units which do duty on the Amaze.
