[nurni76]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

The same was said when there was news of Etios/Liva launch from Toyota. IMO Maruti is being given way less credit than due. I think it's more than likely that the other players in the market get affected by the Brio diesel, leaving Maruti cars with more or less the same market share as before.

True it was being said that Liva and Etios would affect Maruti before they were launched. But when actually launched the Etios turned out not so effective largely due to very poor interior quality and overall fit and Finish. Unlike the Toyota twins, Brio has fairly good acceptance in its petrol Avatar. Fit and Finish are really good. Honda always have a better brand image in India than Toyota. I for one feel Maruti needs to be more than worried if the diesel comes in. What could be the only spanner in the works for Honda is the 3 cylinder diesel which may come in the Brio. I am not taking away any credit from Maruti, infact they deserve the success they have achieved, but I do feel the competition will definitely be stronger from Honda.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by nurni76

But when actually launched the Etios turned out not so effective largely due to very poor interior quality and overall fit and Finish. Unlike the Toyota twins, Brio has fairly good acceptance in its petrol Avatar. Fit and Finish are really good.

+1. Although liva and etios were touted to take away the numbers from maruti, they did nt really dent the Maruti sales. May be due to the average fit and finish and interior quality although the products as a whole are very competitive. On the other hand Brio and Jazz for that matter have decent quality and fit and finish. With petrol only options Brio is doing acceptable nos and Jazz after the price cut is hampered only because of availability issues as it seems Honda is not very interested in selling it at these reduced prices. Otherwise I feel it has potential to do more than what it has been doing. A well priced diesel avatar of these two have the potential of taking the fight to maruti stables.

But we never know, Maruti is the champion of the segment and swift has built a cult status which will be difficult for any manufacturer/product to emulate.

[nair]

Some details from MotorBeam.

The following portion might be more relevant

.....driver of the diesel Brio, who revealed some interesting details. The diesel-powered Brios are being rigorously tested 16-18 hours everyday and have done almost 50,000 kms spanning across India in just 3-4 months. Honda is very eager and cautious to begin its ‘Diesel Engine’ innings in India where the petrol prices and demand for Diesel cars are soaring to new heights. The Diesel Brio is likely to retain the good looking Beige-black interiors and fit-n-finish as on the petrol version. The car is powered by a 1.2-litre i-DTEC engine and is likely to return a very impressive fuel efficiency of 24-25 kmpl (overall).

According to the driver, the launch of the diesel Honda Brio is still a year away. But we hope that this is not true and Honda should bring forward the diesel variant of the Brio sometime later this year to topple its rivals. The diesel-powered Brio should be priced at a premium of Rs. 70,000/- over its comparable petrol variant.

Please find the entire story below:-
More Details About The Honda Brio i-DTEC Diesel

EDIT: Thanks GTO for the video. It was very amusing too.

[CBlazer]

Originally Posted by GTO

- The car was rather loud and clatter was too obvious. This, and the car that KPZen spotted, is 100% diesel. I heard it revving 5 - 6 times in traffic.

Great scoop! Honda seems to have taken the demand for a diesel to heart. They've made sure it sounds every bit like a diesel so that the customers don't walk away thinking its another Honda petrol.

[sgiitk]

Should we agree on it is a three cylinder version of the Honda 1.6. Both the clatter and size hint at this. What will be interesting is to see how Honda tackles the NVH issue. Counterbalancing shafts!

My own feeling is that they will wait till 2013 if Diesel prices go up, else may pitch for an earlier launch.

Also, will the 1.6 show up in the City or Civic or both?

[amolathalye]

Note from Support: Please do not post one liners that add no value to the discussion.

[samarjitdhar]

Unfortunately Honda is too late to the party. With the auto industry facing a downturn now and things in the overall economy slowing down I doubt Honda will achieve any magic numbers by launching this soon. Rewind back 2/3 years, if Honda had read the writing on the wall and brought these engines back then, most of the current day manufacturers would have been struggling to establish any footprint in India. A diesel City would have shut out the likes of VW, Nissan, Toyota and even Hyundai. An appropriately priced diesel Jazz would have made a huge dent in the Swift. But now throw in policy decisions like an additional diesel tax or freeing up the diesel price in the next months, I don't think Honda can see stellar numbers like they had seen for the City. I am waiting to see the bloodshed in this month's sales numbers when it is published on TBHP.

[Dr.Suraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

The 1st time a Brio Diesel is caught on VIDEO!

If Honda were testing a regular plate Brio with full badges et al, I wouldn't even have noticed. The fact that they tried too hard to hide gave them away.

Attachment 943495

Woohoo!
What a scoop!
And what timing.
Best of it all - caught by GTO.

Indeed - had they not knocked off the badges (what were they thinking!) one would not have paid so much attention.

So there is some hope in the future for a bounce back.
But definitely they will have a lot of fine tuning left to do.
Let's hope for the best.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

... will the 1.6 show up in the City or Civic or both?

IMO, it will be in both, FGT in City & VGT in Civic.

[motorworks]

Is Honda a little late for the diesel party? With govt set to increase excise duty on diesel cars, the diesel brio may not be the block buster that Honda wants it to be.

[DicKy]

Too late in the market, and also will it be like Etios/Liva and not live up to the hype?
But, then better late than never, and also Brio is far more finished than the Etios twins.
All the luck for them, though the diesel looks the exact opposite in NVH to Honda petrols. King in Petrol engines but have to wait and see if the diesel performs even half of it.

[GForce1980]

Damn!!! Looks like Honda is finally joining the diesel bandwagon. My dream combo had always been the Jazz with the 1.3 DDIS. Having said that, this engine doesn't seem refined at all. It's definitely is a 3 cylinder engine aimed at fuel efficiency. They better put tons of Noise Insulation for the cabin.

I just booked a white i20 CRDI & would have willingly waited if it was the Jazz. But, sorry Honda. Your's is a case of too little too late...

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by shk_24

I think you meant 1.2 as chopping 1 cylinder from 4 cylinder 1.6 would be 1.2

Yes, but boring of cylinders would increase the capacity, probably enough to make up for the 0.1L

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

A diesel City would have shut out the likes of VW, Nissan, Toyota and even Hyundai

VW has the looks, whereas Toyota sells Innovas and Etios for most of its volume. Hyundai is a low-cost leader and competes with Maruti & Tata, while providing a diesel automatic. I have no idea how Nissan fits in - the Micra aimed at taking away sales from the Swift, Sunny isn't taking away anything from anybody, the Teana is a segment above.

[Mister_M]

Thanks for the Scoop video GTO, Audio was the best part in it. Clearly a Diesel, no doubt!

Now having a real proof for the Honda's Diesel-heart, "Pricing" is what is the next million dollar question. This is going to be the very point that would decide their market-share.

I am only keeping my fingers crossed that they pitch-in with some reasonable pricing comparable with its competitors in the segment! Any reliable sources from known Honda contacts who have any lead here???

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by k_nitin_r

VW has the looks, whereas Toyota sells Innovas and Etios for most of its volume. Hyundai is a low-cost leader and competes with Maruti & Tata, while providing a diesel automatic. I have no idea how Nissan fits in - the Micra aimed at taking away sales from the Swift, Sunny isn't taking away anything from anybody, the Teana is a segment above.

Let me elaborate a bit on how a competent diesel from Honda for the City and a tuned down one for the Jazz and now the Brio if introduced 2/3 years ago could have made things totally different.

Toyota aside from the Innova sales no. is seeing its sales from Eitos and Liva. I have test driven the Etios petrol so cannot comment on the diesel. With apologies to all Toyota Etios/Liva owners the interiors I found quite downmarket. Compare that with a City or a Jazz or even the Brio and add a diesel engine to them. A significant no. of Toyota customers would have lapped any of them up with a little bit of a budget stretch.
Coming to VW, their bread and butter is the Polo and the Vento. Pair a competently priced diesel Jazz and a City against both. Sure some of us like me might have still chosen the Vento but the average joe would always go for the Honda's reliability. I myself confess that if there was a diesel City when I was buying the Vento a year back, there would have been a serious dilemma. Who in their right minds will ever say that the Jazz or the City are ugly compared to the VWs?
Rewind only 2 years, a diesel Jazz would have scared the hell out of Hyundai i20 or the top end Swifts. If the diesel Brio was around Ritz and i10s would have been in danger. I have test driven the Brio and from a driving dynamics standpoint found it good enough. Nissan actually sees more sales of Sunny than Micra. Between an equivalent priced Sunny diesel and City diesel what would you choose or between the Brio diesel and the Micra diesel? I rest my case.