Team-BHP - Honda's new SUV for India

I am very happy Honda City owner for 13+ years, I do think my City has served me well in quality/reliability and therefore happy to consider the Honda Elevate as my next upgrade.

However, I fear that Honda, as a company in India, is an expert to build wrongs things at the wrong time. Like when they did the petrol engines when Diesel was the rage. Or when they launched diesel engine when Petrol cars were back in vogue. Or when they did indianized compacts when world class sedans were expected in a globalized India. Also, Honda's Sales effort are lacklustre. I have registered on their websites for Elevate, and yet no one calls back. For comparison, I have registered on Mahindra XUV700 website, and I get follow up calls within 12 hours.

Honda is a brand that believes that its products will auto-sell. However their products are typically a too little and too late, and has not "Woken up and smelt the coffee" as well.

One Youtuber covered this very well too: Honda doesnt listen to customers, they just do what they want. With that, I don't hope too much from Honda Elevate.

https://youtu.be/x-IKOpA2u6s

We only hope that the Elevate becomes an elevator for Honda India Cars Ltd's fortunes. They have had quite a few misfortunes with cyclical launches and withdrawals, since a decade.

City diesel was launched when the diesel subsidy was nearly gone. The Elevate has come when most car makers have made huge profits with successful launches and sales of mini SUV's since 2015.

Its like a pharma company that was asleep since 2020, launching N 95 masks now in 2023 for Covid protection.

If they release with same old 1.5 iVtec, then it will be like how Apple released iPhone 14 saying they are releasing it with same old chipset as last iPhone that had "proven pro level performance". They must atleast include a mild hybrid with it.

Came across the new Honda brio videos from Philippines and I am wondering if honda will end up launching the same car with new name as the BRV didn’t do that great in our market even with the city engine. Honda being honda, I don’t have any high hopes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piyush Kanthak (Post 5543604)

Forget the engine, if Honda plans to design the interior the same as Amaze, it's game over for them.

The spy shots showed a floating (or at least pseudo-floating) entertainment system, so I doubt it will have the Amaze's interior. I think what could really kill this product is the City's infotainment system. This needs to have at least the system from the HR-V e:HEV if it has to compete with Kia or Škoda-VW who have excellent systems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelnpaddock (Post 5543570)

Honda Elevate first look:

A rendering is not a 'first look'. You could find hundreds of these online and none would be relevant to the discussion, until Honda reveals the actual design.

As much as I am excited about elevate, I also know that there is a high probability that Honda will mess up with pricing and feature selection.

Honda will charge a premium vs Creta/Seltos and then fail to justify it. Look at City vs Verna or any other car Honda vs Hyundai car comparison in the last decade.

Honda however will be able to steal Skoda/VW pie for sure but I don't think that's big enough.

The more I see the spy pics posted the more I'm thinking the Elevate is basically the Honda City Hatchback but with extra ground clearance and plastic cladding. Basically as the name implies the Elevate is just an elevated Honda City Hatchback with minor styling changes in the front and back. :)

Considering the fact that it is based on the existing City platform and is rumored to be around 4.3m in length it just makes it more likely the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M (Post 5543852)

Don't think so.

Looking at the basic silhoutte and bodylines, this is not just a City Cross or even the 2023 Wr-V. The sides of the body looks more flat than curvy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M (Post 5543852)

By the compartive pictures you posted, the car seems to be the same Honda City Hatchback.

So does it mean interior space will be just as much as Honda City. If so, it will have a low seating and we need to crouch into the car just like a sedan. That will make kees extension position and will not have the typical SUV seating comfort.

Will need to see how will the final layout turnout to be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRPSREDDY (Post 5543955)

By the compartive pictures you posted, the car seems to be the same Honda City Hatchback....So does it mean interior space will be just as much as Honda City. If so, it will have a low seating and we need to crouch into the car just like a sedan. That will make kees extension position and will not have the typical SUV seating comfort....Will need to see how will the final layout turnout to be.

Hard points - The windowline is different. The rear door around the quarter glass is curvier in the City hatch, while boxy in the Elevate. The windshield is more steeply raked in the City hatchback, while it is more upright in the Elevate.

Softer points - The City hatchback has the katana bodyline, while the Elevate looks flatter/ slab sided.

Rest assured it will be the City counterpart,sharing platform and engines just like Verna is Creta's counterpart. But this doesn't seem to be just a cross version of the City hatchback like Baleno/Fronx.

Quote:

Originally Posted by volkman10 (Post 5540690)

Honda's Elevate (?) will get the SUV stance.

Attachment 2446502

And if Hormazd's sources are correct, this would have a unHondaish driving position.