Honda Cars India confirms new Jazz and City Diesel for 2014

The next-generation version of the Jazz hatchback, a global car model that's also known as the Fit in many parts of the world, has already been launched in Honda's home market of Japan. In India, Honda has discontinued the Jazz hatchback owing to poor sales, and the next-generation model is scheduled to be re-launched here in 2014.

The new Jazz is likely to be sold in India with both petrol and turbo diesel engine options. Honda Cars India's senior vice president for sales & marketing, Mr Jnaneswar Sen, speaking to BusinessStandard has noted that the next-generation version of the City sedan will also be launched in India next year. Along with the 2014 Jazz, the City sedan will also hop on to the diesel engine bandwagon.

As of now, Honda dealers across the country are clearing stocks of the City sedan, whose next-generation version is likely to be unveiled internationally in November 2013. The car's automatic version, which is presently unavailable in India due to depleted stocks, will make a comeback with the all-new model. The City sedan sold thus far in India, has been available only with a petrol engine. 

The 2014 Jazz hatchback and the City sedan are likely to use the 1.5 liter i-DTEC turbo diesel engine that Honda first introduced in the diesel variants of the Brio-platform based Amaze compact sedan. This motor, good for 100 PS-200 Nm in its current state of tune, could be tweaked to output more power and torque in the City sedan. The current output of this engine is likely to be retained on the Jazz hatchback.

The next-generation Jazz platform will play host to three cars in its latest iteration. Apart from the 2014 Jazz hatchback and the City sedan, another car model to be based on the new Jazz platform is a crossover which is presently known as the Urban SUV concept. Both petrol and diesel engine options will be available on this crossover as well. A 2015 Indian launch for the Honda Urban SUV's production version is likely.

Another utility vehicle that Honda plans to launch in the next couple of years is the Mobilio MPV, a rival to the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the Chevrolet Enjoy. The Mobilio MPV is based on the Brio platform. Therefore, by the end of 2015, Honda will have 3 cars each, based on the Jazz and Brio platforms respectively. The cars based on the Brio platform will be: Brio hatchback, Amaze compact sedan and the Mobilio MPV. The cars based on the next-generation Jazz platform will be: 2014 Jazz hatchback, 2014 City sedan and the 2015 Urban SUV.