Team-BHP - Honda Jazz F/L with 1.5 coming by June end

Buoyed by City's initial success in early years, Honda took Indians for granted. Sure, H badge is considered premium in this country by many but times are changing. competition is fast catching up. Honda seems to have has overestimated its badge value. Instead of lowering Jazz's price, they are increasing it.

Or may be they are making space for Brio. Jazz is history while Brio is future. Jazz is not selling anyway. So why not increase its price so that when Brio is launched, it will appear ultra cheap compared to pricey Jazz, making people think they are getting a Honda at throwaway price. This also means they are not planning to price Brio low. They are hiking prices of Jazz to make new Brio's price appear low.

Terrific move by Honda, it clears all the short comings of the current Jazz.

This car is a true global product and much better engineered than Honda City let alone other hatches but is the Indian market matured enough to accept it is the big mystery.

Its got more than 75% boot space of the City, so practicality is never a question. Its only problem would be the body style with people who associate small sedans to be more premium.

Like to see the positioning of 1.5 Jazz alongside the City, it may as well eat into the City sales.

Jazz is already over-priced that's why it failed. After the facelift and the 1.5 liter engine, the price of the new variant would be at least 60- 70k more than the current variants.
Now only if Honda reduces the price of the 1.2 to around 6.10-6.25 ex-showroom and the 1.5 be priced at the current price of 1.2, then maybe the Jazz may find more takers. Otherwise its gonna be a bigger failure.
Jazz did not fail because it has a 1.2 liter engine, it failed because of its high price so Honda should take care of the pricing now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2326717)

Honda has a wound on the left hand, but are applying band-aid to the right!!

The Jazz' 1.2 liter is an excellent motor. The market did NOT reject the Jazz because it's a 1.2. Rather, the hatchback flopped because it is severely overpriced. A 1.5L at the same price will do nothing. Instead, Honda should cut the Jazz price by 1.5L :D

The same 1.2L will make its way into the Brio's engine bay. Hence, from Honda's POV, they might want to differentiate between the entry-hatch & premium. Problem is, once the market decides it won't pay that price for your product, they usually never will come around. Only price cuts work (Logan & Fabia are recent examples of successful repositioning).

I would have bought Jazz in a hearbeat if it were 1.0L cheaper.

And I make pragmatic choices (buying Figo TDCI now)

Wasn't Jazz already a premium priced product ? Guess Honda wants to create a new Premium+ segment :)

Or wait, maybe they are competing with the i20 for having the maximum price for a Hatch in India! :Frustrati ( Bangalore On road price of the 1.4AT AVN i20 is 9.8L and the Jazz X is around 9.3L )
At 11.xx on road, We get a fully loaded Vento, Verna , Fiesta and Linea (1.6 MJD maybe)!. Just don't understand what Honda have in mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricky_63 (Post 2327021)

LOL My TC'd Swift would smoke it ~ what is Honda thinking ? Just the straight "H" instead of the slanted one will not get them the numbers. Period

Cheers ??? Or maybe not this time

how about a TC'ed 1.5 Jazz? It should be able to eat your TC swift for dessert stupid:

Nice to see a lot of support for the Jazz here.
It truly is a fine product, and a global one at that.
But seriously Honda needs to re-think their pricing strategy. If they can offer the 1.5L at the same money, most people will think of it as a move forward and might choose it over the competition.
They can then re-position the 1.2L and reduce the price by around 1 lakh, now this move will make everybody happy, Including Honda.

Honda's going to have egg again on their face once again. The only way I'd touch a Jazz was if they had the 1.5 with A/T at less than 8.5 lakh on road. Now that would be a unique offering given the dearth of big A/T hatchbacks in India. Current prices continue to baffle.

My sense is that this is aimed more from gearing up for optimum (in their view not mine) positioning for the Brio rather than anything to do with reviving the Jazz. After all, plonking the 1.5 ltr mill is not an issue considering it already features in the City.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricky_63 (Post 2327021)

LOL My TC'd Swift would smoke it ~ what is Honda thinking ? Just the straight "H" instead of the slanted one will not get them the numbers. Period

Cheers ??? Or maybe not this time

What Honda is thinking is not possible for anyone to divine. Period!

It will be apparent in due course of time as events unfold. It could well be that they are going to repeat themselves and you and the majority of the members on the forum are proven right.

OTOH it could also happen they add the new motor to the Jazz, load it to the gills with gizmos, price it at the current price point for the top end variant and lower the price for the "sans gizmos" variants or "lower powered" variants depending on the permutations and combinations they come up with.

Please note I am not a Honda fan boy or an apologist for the fact they have as of date not exhibited pro-active out of the box thinking. It could well be that the vast majority of the members on the forum are right and Honda once again displays their proclivity for insanity. Or it could be that the honchos in Honda, Japan have bi**h slapped some sense into the jokers in Honda, India and they are begining to try earn their wages.

All in all an interesting case study in evolution on how a company uses or ab-uses opportunity.

This is a good move by the Honda. As GTO mentioned, there is nothing wrong with the 1.2, but being a hatch, it was not valued as VFM in our context. I guess if they can do a Fabia here, they have a winner in hand. Maybe launch the 1.5 in the current price point, and re-align the 1.2 pricing a bit.

On a side note, the Honda folks will be wondering – We’re selling a good nos. of 1.5 Jazz in other markets, even though its priced premium than the 1.5 City, but why it is not happening in India. If they can figure that out, the Jazz will survive :)

While everyone is talking about the price point (which definitely is Jazz's Achilles heel) I cannot help wondering about the effect of having the same 1.5L mill that is powering the City in the Jazz. With Vento already nipping on City's positioning and the upcoming threat (read new Verna & Fiesta) that City needs to be concerned about, would they really want in house competition. Am sure at the new Jazz's price point people might as well look to get the City base version; but its possible that 1 in 20 might go for the Jazz high end with the same engine specs than go for a E or S variant City. Probably they will get the detuned 1.5L engine in Jazz, but whats the point. They might as well stay with the 1.2. Am wondering if Honda is doing its homework right ?