[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

If that is the case then how come ACI is able to publish the exclusive first drive of the Mobilio in their June-14 edition of the magazine. June edition will hit the stands by end of May or June first week. It means ACI was able to lay their hands on the Mobilio within May itself. Does ACI get some special privilege and is invited by car companies for test drives well before the media drives are started?

Nope - IMHO ACI is not associated with any political party to warrant a special invitation. I think it tested the mobilio in indonesia.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I guess they would have gone out of India to get the Exclusive Drive of the Mobilio just the way they did with the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross.

Right

Originally Posted by RSR

AutoIndian, I think so too. I guess the keywords are "exclusive first drive" as the caption on the ACI cover you have posted states. I guess ACI must have pestered Honda for a sneak peek at the Mobilio, and they must have been rewarded with a brief first drive of a pre-production variant within the factory premises or on the factory test track.

Honda would not do that as ACI is no special body. A special preview to ACI would mean an insult to other jouranlists. Also as stated earlier, i dont think ACI is owned by some politician, to warrant "fear" factor to oblige.

Originally Posted by motorworks

I'm not so sure that the Mobilo is going to be more expensive than the Ertiga. The brio is way cheaper than the swift, the amaze is more or less at par with the Dzire and why would then the Mobilo be priced more than the Ertiga? Just because it's a few mm longer? Honda is been in India too long to make this sort of mistake. When the automobile market is as slow as the current scenario, and when even the Ertiga is on a 25k to 50k discount, it would be a grave error from Honda to price the Mobilo higher than the Ertiga.

It seems someone from Honda confirmed to Autocar India that Mobilio WILL be priced higher than Ertiga for sure.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Hope Honda thinks the same way and either prices it lesser than the Ertiga or equal it. Knowing Honda they will price it a minimum 50-70K higher than the Ertiga to milk the cow.


Can someone post the newly designed dashboard and what are the changes with respect to the Brio's dash. I am confused as to hy Honda would not offer a fresh design on a new car that is to be launched which can be carried forward to the Brio and Amaze later on.

It seems someone from Honda confirmed to Autocar India that Mobilio WILL be priced higher than Ertiga for sure.

It is just a speculation about the dashbaord written in the ACI magazine. Actually the decision would have been taken at Honda long time back but it is typical of Managers, not to communicate the decision down the chain. As of now there is no concrete info, but yes, the facelift could be a good idea. They could launch the facelifted dash on the mobilio and then slowly roll out facelifts for amaze and brio. Economies of scale will offset the lesser sales numbers (if) Mobilio would make.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Honda would not do that as ACI is no special body. A special preview to ACI would mean an insult to other jouranlists.

All these media drives are the contributors to 25-35% of the total sales the car would garner. Many people are there who just go buy cars solely by reading test drive reports online so ALL manufactures do respect these media drives. No chance of partiality as you rightly said.

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

It seems someone from Honda confirmed to Autocar India that Mobilio WILL be priced higher than Ertiga for sure.

This has to happen.

Honda will not let anything unturned. Initial sales created by the hype will be milked and later on if the sales drop the prices may drop too. This move was anticipated by us anyway.

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

It is just a speculation about the dashbaord written in the ACI magazine. They could launch the facelifted dash on the mobilio and then slowly roll out facelifts for amaze and brio.

The facelifted dash will give the design team some feedback be it either positive or negative versus the Brio standard dash. If the feedback is good then the facelifted dash will be pasted onto Brio and Amaze just like how Maruti has pasted the Swift's dash to Dzire and Ertiga.

Fingers crossed anyway.

Anurag.

[scopriobharath]

Mobilio (Honda) sent me a teaser email about a July launch.

PLease click the attachment for an enlarged and more easily readable format.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Mobilio (Honda) sent me a teaser email about a July launch.

PLease click the attachment for an enlarged and more easily readable format.

Samepinch scopriobharath. Even I received it today. But looks like Honda is in great hurry to get the Mobilio out. Look at the highlighted portion in the advert message. Looks like they have hired some shady marketing/advertising agency. They have conveniently replaced "we" with "be" at two places. They don't even have the patience for proof reading.

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Samepinch scopriobharath. Even I received it today. But looks like Honda is in great hurry to get the Mobilio out. Look at the highlighted portion in the advert message. Looks like they have hired some shady marketing/advertising agency. They have conveniently replaced "we" with "be" at two places. They don't even have the patience for proof reading.

I got the same mailer again today with they typo corrected.

I can understand a mistake from an indian company, but Japanese who demonstrate perfection in everything, missed this by a huge margin. I guess this would have been outsourced to a less experienced writer and the "facilities" team would have just bothered about "cost and cutting" (not cost cutting) and quality

[desdemona]

Honda is a huge, consistent, multi-year advertiser in Autocar. Which is why Honda-s ALWAYS (?) win comparo-s in ACI, even though ACI and Hormardz are professional enough to state all facts and observations out fairly in the text of the comparo-s, resulting in the strange journalistic situation of the main text being opposed to the 'And the winner is' headline!

Ah well, that's why Team-Bhp is essential: the automotive mags are corrupt, like the rest of the mass media of course.

[400notout]

ACI have published an exclusive video first drive review of the mobilio here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xmFzyIAnVQ

Yes so they did test the car in Indonesia, also with the 1.5 ivtec in it, this might be priced higher than the ertiga.

[herculesksp]

AutoCars exclusive is up on their website and well as on YouTube.

As expected it is the exclusive drive during the recent Jakarta launch.

So obviously no one has yet got an exclusive on the India-specced Mobolio.

Don't worry about partiality towards magazines

AFAIK, TBHP got a exclusive to the Honda City last time and Honda respects TBHP opinion. So, we will definitely get the review before the mags come out with it.

That said, it good to get a feel of the Jakarta Mobilio already, especially for the early birds (like me?)

[Thilak29]

Mobilio caught undisguised on Indian roads.


Sent from my iPad using Team-BHP

[a4anurag]

Fail to understand that love by Honda for that THICK chrome on the grille.

Looks bad, they should have made it thin and sleek. The car looks narrow when seen from the front but the rear angle makes it look decently wide enough, length is L.O.N.G (Look at the rear door window!).

Anurag.

[desdemona]

Will Honda offer the Mobilio, a people/family-carrier, with the appropriate size of tyres? The alloys it is wearing in this picture are much better looking than the ones on offer on the City, no?

[e46]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Fail to understand that love by Honda for that THICK chrome on the grille.

Looks bad, they should have made it thin and sleek. The car looks narrow when seen from the front but the rear angle makes it look decently wide enough, length is L.O.N.G (Look at the rear door window!).

Anurag.

Yes, it reminds us about the fad which we have with chrome and beige two tone interiors. I fail to understand the reasoning behind this.

A point to note on above note, barring few models we hardly have any choice of an all black interior trim. MS Swift is a stark exception, so was the erstwhile Laura RS. Its a rare gene these days and I plan to get the Swift asap, lest MS decides to go follow the 'upmarket' two tone way with the impending facelift Swift.

In Trance we trust,
drive safe

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by desdemona

Will Honda offer the Mobilio, a people/family-carrier, with the appropriate size of tyres? The alloys it is wearing in this picture are much better looking than the ones on offer on the City, no?

Those alloys are offered in one of the Amaze's variants. R14 IIRC. Nothing new here.

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Mobilio caught undisguised on Indian roads.

Did you click those images personally? Otherwise, please share the source for the benefit of the readers.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Mobilio caught undisguised on Indian roads. Sent from my iPad using Team-BHP

Great find Thilak29 and thank you for sharing. The car you have snapped seems to be the top end V i-Dtec model. However the ORVMs don't seem to sport the turn indicators. Hope Honda does not omit this important feature in the actual production version.

Did you also observe this car in motion? Could you get a sneek peek inside the cabin, at the dash and the gear lever? I am looking for an answer to the million dollar question. Will the i-Dtec sport a 5 speed gear box similar to the Amaze or will it get the 6 speed one like the new City?

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Great find Thilak29 and thank you for sharing. The car you have snapped seems to be the top end V i-Dtec model. However the ORVMs don't seem to sport the turn indicators. Hope Honda does not omit this important feature in the actual production version.

Did you also observe this car in motion? Could you get a sneek peek inside the cabin, at the dash and the gear lever? I am looking for an answer to the million dollar question. Will the i-Dtec sport a 5 speed gear box similar to the Amaze or will it get the 6 speed one like the new City?

I can see indicators in the front fender. i dont think honda will offer the same on the ORVM as a standard. They might offer ORVM indicator as an accessory.

It would be the 5 speed box for sure with both petrol and diesel models