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-   -   Honda BR-V: The Brio-based SUV (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/167406-honda-br-v-brio-based-suv-2.html)

LOL - this is like using photoshop to create a new car from existing cars!

Front: City / Jazz as the cars need to look "cool"
Side: Mobilio as it's already made
Interior: City / Jazz... but wait - there are a lot of steering wheels left from unsold Mobilio's so just use a mix and match of parts to finish old parts!
Rear: Put together the above and then do a "rafoo" on the rear to complete the car!

It's not working for me. It's a Mobilo from the side - at best it can be called a jacked up Mobilo or a Mobilo Cross. Overall a very lazy attempt from Honda and they deserve to be punished for this effort which I hope the Indian market will. Seems to be like Honda is following a policy of 'minimum effort maximum returns' with their cars specially the made for emerging market ones - even the new City was a lazy attempt. Really sad to see manufacturer's trying to take the easy way out.

If I was Hyundai, I wouldn't be worried over this at all!

Well, this is what most companies are doing today, not just in India. It cost tons of of cash in investment, tooling, spares inventory etc to create new designs and parts, not to forget the other aspects associated with a completely new design. Also models need to adhere to the family look and resemble the siblings. :D

Not sounding like a Honda fan boy, but its so easy for us to wish and whimper, at least they made an effort to address this segment quickly unlike other big manufacturers. Its the fastest growing class now and is very crucial for India. We are yet to see anything concrete from Toyota, VW, Chevy in this segment.

Rear three-quarters has an uncanny resemblance to Mobilio, but this one does look ugly.
Side-profile as mentioned by others earlier is more Station Wagon than SUV.

I did notice that there will be a huge blind spot created by A-pillar - similar to that of the Ecosport.

I'm not going to expect any miracles in Honda's pricing!

Following is the press release from Honda

The pricing of Rp. 230 to 265 million translates to INR 10.85 lacs to 12.50 lacs.

Following is a video from launch. The front for some reason resembles Tata Safari Storme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wibupdMZpBY

More pics are out, courtesy Paul Tan. You can make out 3 rows of seats in the last one:

That side profile just confirms this is nothing but a Mobilio. But that's no bad thing. They have definitely managed to reduce the MPV bulk of the Mobilio. The Mobilio was never a bad looking MPV.

The biggest grouse of the Mobilio was the cheap Brio dash board. That too has been addressed with the interiors matching the City. Much needed and welcome upgrade.

If this can seat 7 in similar comfort to the Mobilio then Honda has a big trump card. Couple that with the 1.5L i-VTEC engine and the 1.5L i-DTEC they have a perfect engine combo as well.

Looking at the similarities to the Mobilio, similar level of cost cutting is to be expected. That will be acceptable if Honda are targetting aggressive pricing.

The 1.5L diesel is nowhere as good as the Creta 1.6L CRDI though the petrol is close. With that I would expect the pricing to be on par with the S-cross DDiS 200 maximum 1 lakh more. Any more and this will go the Mobilio way.

Oh my god that rear end :Shockked:
I am sure a lot of people just visited a Hyundai dealer and booked a Creta !

The only good thing to come out of this could be Honda pricing it aggressively (a lot cheaper than the Creta).

It might have well been the next gen Mobilio! There's hardly anything to differentiate the Mobilio and the BR-V! Both have 7 seats, will share a lot of parts including engine, so what's the big differentiator apart from the souped up looks? Couldn't Honda have planned anything like a en ecosport? Just a 5 seater compact cross over under 4m. They could have priced it in the same range as the Mobilio or even slightly lesser and they could have had 4 completely different products based on the brio platform! I'm somehow convinced that the Indian customer will see thru the product! The Mobilio isn't doing great thanks to its pricing being higher than the ertiga. So if this ends up on the 12 lakh plus side there are going to be a lot of comparisons with the XUVs, Dusters and Creta.

Agree with you that BRV = Mobilio + SUV stying + better interiors. IMO - this vehicle has a lot better chance of success than the Mobilio. As you say - the interiors do make a huge difference here. Also Indians love SUVs way better than MUVs, except for may be the eternal Innova

However, your pricing is a bit off IMHO. Mobilio itself is priced from 8.56L for the bare bones E version to 11.13L ex-showroom for the V(O) in bangalore. If we consider the RS(O) it moves upto 12.26L ex-showroom bangalore.

S-Cross 1.3 Sigma is priced from 8.7L ex-showroom Bangalore for the 1.3 Sigma to 11.18L for the 1.3 Alpha. As you know, S-Cross is more feature loaded across variants compared to the Mobilio. Mobilio is priced higher than the S-Cross 1.3, consider the feature deficit.

Considering this, I would expect BRV to be priced between 9.9L ex-showroom Bangalore for the E variant 13.5L ex-bangalore for the V(O) and 14.5L ex-showroom Bangalore for the RS variants.

Okay...so basically the idea was :

1. Mobilio isn't working. Probable reason? The interiors and the front resemblance to way cheaper Brio.
2. Let's butch up the front. Slap some chrome overdose. 3rd world countries love it.lol:
3. Mix and match(whatever possible within budget) some interiors from Jazz(Dash)/Brio bin(steering), so that its not entirely similar to either of the cars and we can call it an all new interior.
4. Hyndai calls Creta a perfect SUV. We will call this a Premium/Some heavy term-SUV as we are "HONDA" and price it higher than city?

Is it just me or you all think HONDA is stretching this Brio-platform card way too much and loosing the aspirational value it once enjoyed with the fantastic V-tec? :deadhorse

I wont be surprised if they price it above CRETA as this has 7 seats. All in all its more of a facelifted Mobilio for me, than a new car. Really dissapointed. Never the less, if I need a petrol 7 seater for family roundabouts, this will make sense if sticker price is anything under 11/12L ex-showroom with curtain+front airbags & ABS.

P.S : Although not a big fan of the slant H, I believe Hyundai should get a pat on the back for going the other way. Their cars are actually getting better by the day and slowly but steadily they will enjoy the similar aspirational value that HONDA once enjoyed.

This is a pathetic effort from Honda.
It's very clear that Honda's R&D team which worked for the BR-V is terrible (I guess it's based out of Thailand/Indonesia).

The sooner they understand that the Brio platform is not working the better, at least in India.

The rear of the car looks worse than Mobilio. The interiors though have been worked upon seem terrible as all the different elements looks out of sync - looks like a jugaad.
This product should fail so that they stop introducing such products in the market. I am not a fan of Creta but if I would have to choose a car in that segment I would simply choose the Creta.

Someone tell Honda to get the Vezel to India..please . that's total drool stuff.

My pricing estimate was more in tune with Honda's pricing strategy at the moment.

Actually when the Mobilio was launched everyone thought it was overpriced which it still actually is. But now with the S-cross and Creta it doesn't look as ridiculously priced as before.

My estimated pricing was based on the fact that the features deficit will come down vs the Mobilio. Secondly I would rate the 1.5L i-VTEC petrol from the City very highly. Even the 1.5L i-DTEC engine though poor on NVH is a decent performer and I am hoping Honda realise their mistake and fit in the 6 speed box rather than the 5 speed.

But that presents them with a list of problems-

1. Pricing the SUV along with the MUV Mobilio will completely kill whatever remaining chances Mobilio has at success.

2. A 7 seater SUV priced cheaper than the City. That's again a threat to their segment flagship.

3. Honda still maintains a premium pricing strategy with maximum profits. Amaze, Mobilio, City, Jazz etc are all priced at a premium over competition. I doubt Honda would change that trend for BRV alone.

4. With 7 seats, the "most fuel efficient SUV tag" which they can claim with the 1.5 iDTec, this 'SUV' has much better product desirability when compared against the MUV Mobilio. Indian market is crazy for SUVs. They should be able to price it above City / Mobilio and still have a decent chance of success- provided the interiors and build quality is acceptable, unlike Mobilio.

5. You are expecting Honda to add a lot more over Mobilio- better looks, better interiors, better features, 6 speed gearbox etc with minimal price increase. Unfortunately - doesn't happen that way. Even crossover version of hatchbacks are priced approx 1L above. I expect 1.5L differential for this Mobilio cross.

As much as I hate to say this- I think they have a good chance of success with the BRV at the prices I've mentioned. Anyways, only time can tell. :D

Slight resemblance to the Mobilio/Amaze/Brio may not be that apparent to a layman. What will work against it is the shoddy build and premium pricing for a brand that's not premium at all.