Honda's jazz new 1.5 litre Diesel i-DTEC engine

Honda's new 1.5 litre Diesel i-DTEC engine combined with the Jazz's new edgy Euro Civic type looks, it is all set to take the Indian market by storm. Honda has to ensure they price the Jazz well.

To keep the Jazz competitively priced, Honda will produce it at its Tapukara plant with a high percent of localisation. And since the new Jazz will share its platform with the new City (to be unveiled this month), economies of scale will further help keeping costs in check.

The New Jazz will also feature a 1.2 litre i-Vtec petrol engine like the one featured in the Brio. Expect the Jazz to come very highly equipped in terms of features with a lot of shared components to the newly launched Honda City.

2014 Honda City

The 6th generation version of the 2014 Honda City and the 4th generation model for the Indian car market will keep its date with India on the 25th of November, 2013. The 2014 City’s unveil in India will be a world premiere for the car. The new City will show a full makeover in terms of styling while the overall size of the car could get larger. The new car will be launched in India sometime early next year with customer deliveries to begin soon after. Honda is bringing the next generation variant of the City with a diesel engine too because the Japanese carmaker, after having learnt the hard way, doesn't want to let go of its customers now.

• The Honda City will be offered for the first time in India, and the world, with a turbo diesel engine.
• The 1.5 liter i-DTEC turbo diesel engine of the Amaze compact sedan will power the City in a different state of tune.
• On the 2014 City sedan, the 1.5 liter diesel engine could be more powerful and more torque as the City will be heavier than the Amaze.
• Since the 2014 City will be priced more than the Amaze, Honda might muffle the all-aluminium diesel engine by using additional sound deadening material. Why? C segment sedan buyers whose other options include cars such as the silent Verna and Fiesta diesels won’t want a noisy diesel powered car, that too from Honda. So, a quieter 1.5 liter diesel could be the order of the day for the 2014 City sedan.
• The City will also be available with a petrol engine, as is the case presently.
• A CNG option for the 2014 City remains a possibility.

Honda has not been able to meet the big demand that its first diesel powered car for the Indian market, the Amaze compact sedan, has managed to generate. So, the waiting list for the diesel powered Amaze is at least a couple of months for most variants. With Honda adding a diesel engine to the 2014 City, expect the new sedan to also come with a significant waiting period. Honda will have to carry out its capacity doubling process at Tapukara very soon if it prices the 2014 City sedan as well as it did with the Amaze.