[nik_kapur]

This is terrible news i feel. The Vezel is a winner in my eyes at even 16L. As rightly pointed out, it is way nicer than the Duster and people will pay a premium for it.
We will now get a cheap wannabe crossover based on the Brio with that apology of an interior and small size.

Why can't Honda produce this car at decent price levels? If they can sell a CRV at 20L after doing a CKD production, I am sure they can manage 16L for the Vezel with CKD production and even lower with some localization. Its based on the Jazz so I'm assuming many parts are shared. They will make the Jazz in India and they will have plenty of parts available.

[vasanthn21]

Pardon my ignorance, when it is called - "brio based MPV", does it mean that the width of the MPV will be same as that of Brio?

Is the width of Amaze same as that of Brio? I tried sitting in the reat seat of Amaze and felt it quite narrow, quite similar to the ecosport where 3 normal sized adults would be tight fit.

[ecosport rules]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Pardon my ignorance, when it is called - "brio based MPV", does it mean that the width of the MPV will be same as that of Brio?

Is the width of Amaze same as that of Brio? I tried sitting in the reat seat of Amaze and felt it quite narrow, quite similar to the ecosport where 3 normal sized adults would be tight fit.

Its called brio mobilo.Pictures are all over the internet.
Not very sure about the width.
BTW ecosport is a four seater and not a five seater as some claim (it was one of the important factor s in my decision making as it will not attract fleet owners)

[R.G]

Bad news !! Honda Vezel will be a modern , well built and reliable cross over if it is launched in India . It would have opened a market segment of its own.

Those who are spending 15L+ on a Toyota Innova because of the limited options in that segment will be more than happy to buy a modern and reliable 5 seater Honda SUV.

I honestly hope Nissan Qashqai gets launched next year and gets successful so that it will be an eye opener for others !

[zenren]

I loved Honda designs all these years till they launched Brio. I cant still stand the front end look of Brio especially the headlights. Now, it looks like Honda is all set to make that the 'Honda theme' with Amaze and Mobilio.

I hope they give Brio family a facelift with a new front end that has rectangular headlamps aka like City and a refreshed dashboard before they venture out with Mobilio. Brio has been around long enough to be given a facelift in a year or so.

[Equus]

I think it would be a good product to enhance their portfolio but if they want large numbers, then Vezel wont get them that just yet. So they prefer to wait.
For now, they want to focus on the most growing sectors and spot on!

[rajshenoy]

Honda is squeezing Brio platform like a sugarcane, But as long as things are good, no one will complain.

Brio SUV would look like a mini porsche cayenne for sure

[deetjohn]

ACI had reported earlier that Honda will not bring Vezel to India due to the cost structure of the market.

It looks like the strategy is to spurn multiple models off the Brio platform. This compact SUV will be the 4th vehicle after Mobilo.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

It looks like the strategy is to spurn multiple models off the Brio platform. This compact SUV will be the 4th vehicle after Mobilo.

They've made a 7 seater MPV and a compact sedan on the same platform. So the efforts towards the 5-seater compact SUV shouldn't be too high, considering the SUV can be derived out of these two products - length/wheelbase dimensions from the CS and width/height and handling from the MPV. After all, anything with more than 170mm GC is an SUV by Indian standards!

[theMAG]

There seem to be both good and bad aspects associated with this move by Honda.

The good bit is that they seem to have understood the price sensitivities of the Indian market, and therefore should minimize any future pricing disasters.

The bad bits are 2-fold:

The first is of course the Vezel not making it - I personally believed it had what was needed to establish a new benchmark for the compact SUV segment in India, having seen it up-close in Tokyo.

The second, and somewhat more potentially concerning, is the possibility of excess cost-cutting Honda might undertake, and a subsequent below-par market acceptability of their India-spec models, similar to the Toyota Liva story. It is this aspect that I am particularly concerned about - after having seen their Mobilio at the Motegi- whose interiors certainly needed some amount of upgradation to be acceptable in India.

[MaxTorque]

Bad news indeed. I was expecting the Vezel but I had the same doubt in my mind when the first images were released. Somehow Honda is now purely focusing on profitability. Honda Brio SUV could be an interesting proposition.

[Car_fanatic]

This seems to fail logic. Honda has Amaze and, soon to be launched, Mobilio on the Brio platform. Honda has also confirmed Jazz launch some time in 2014. It would therefore be logical to expand both Brio and Jazz platforms to launch new cars rather than squeeze more out of just one platform. Therefore Vezel on Jazz platform makes more sense then a Brio based compact SUV. If anything, Honda should explore pulling the plug on CR-V, which even after local manufacturing has failed to deliver large numbers. Imagine, having a Honda badge product introduced in India, right after global launch, with interiors miles ahead of the bare Brio interiors, as a proper 5 seater SUV. It will stand far apart from Duster and Terrano, both in terms of technology and looks and will create a niche market. Honestly, given a choice, we all would buy a Honda, as compared to Renault or Nissan badge. That is the pull of Honda badge in India and they should not discount/undermine that. Globally, products like RAV4 from Toyota have had tremendous success as a 5 seater SUV.

Also, all the arguments that we heard for Eritiga v/s Innova (5 v/s 7 seater) - I.e. how many people need a 7 seater every day etc, will also come into play and I feel while CRV struggles to prove itself against a Fortuner 2WD due to this number of seat debate, a sub 20 lacs, 5 seater Vezel would appeal to lot of buyers. I am ready to put my booking amount on this today, if it gets launched.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by theMAG

The second, and somewhat more potentially concerning, is the possibility of excess cost-cutting Honda might undertake, and a subsequent below-par market acceptability of their India-spec models, similar to the Toyota Liva story. It is this aspect that I am particularly concerned about - after having seen their Mobilio at the Motegi- whose interiors certainly needed some amount of upgradation to be acceptable in India.

Yes, this indeed a bigger concern IMO. It’s quite amazing that how Honda has transformed/re-positioned itself with the arrival of the Amaze. There was a time when the brand was revered due to its premium product portfolio, with the wonderful Jazz sitting at the bottom end of the product range. But with this new strategy the Jazz (after the CR-V) maybe the only true international model in Honda’s product range for India. Regional models are great to bring in sales figures, but it would have been better if they get a right mix by offering models like Civic, Vezel etc. as well in the Indian market and provide better choices to the customer. Unlike brands like Suzuki, Honda will not have much trouble in selling products in the premium range, but if they get established as a budget manufacturer, it may be difficult to break away from that tag. They probably should learn a bit or two from Hyundai in this aspect.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by Marauder

One of the major reasons for the success of the A-class was that it was the cheapest offering from the Mercedes stable and thus was a 'luxury' car in the minds of the buyers. The product should have perceived value even though it is not be really VFM.
The best example is the Honda Jazz itself, it was a brilliant package and leagues ahead of the competition in the overall utility of the product but buyers did not want to pay so much for a hatchback or 'choti gaadi'.

The A-Class shows that factors other than length have started to matter in our market.

The Jazz isn't a good example for a number of reasons. It was competing in a crowded, price sensitive part of the market without a diesel engine and was a little ahead of its time. Look what has happened just a few years later with the higher powered Polo twins.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by ecosport rules

Its called brio mobilo.Pictures are all over the internet. Not very sure about the width. BTW ecosport is a four seater and not a five seater as some claim (it was one of the important factor s in my decision making as it will not attract fleet owners)

The Yeti is also a four seater. Most definitely.
Recently we had no alternative but to squeeze the five people of our closest family into it for a short trip within the city, but very luckily the two smallest people squashed theirselves along with one large person in the back and the two largest, including me, were in front.
Of course, I will never relinquish the driving seat so that was a foregone conclusion and everyone else had to adjust.
For us too, the four seat capacity was a part of the reason we chose this vehicle, because 99.95% of the time we are just two persons and our luggage or four persons and no luggage, in this vehicle.
4223 cm is the length of the vehicle. Quite a bit shorter than its cousin, the Laura. The Laura feels far more generously sized and spacious in comparison to the Yeti, but then, I ve not really wished to own a car really, always preferring the small SUV/ Crossover type vehicles. Despite the Laura being larger, I would still deem it as a generous 4 seater and would not like to squash the 5th person in.