At the Auto Expo, Honda showcased BR-V, their first compact SUV for our Indian market. They also confirmed that like Indonesia, India-spec BR-V will continue to be 7-seater ensuring more space and hence a wider appeal.
BR-V Quick Info:
- Honda is calling BR-V as the new-generation Crossover Utility Vehicle.
- BR-V is based on the same Brio platform which has so far spawned Amaze compact sedan and Mobilio MPV.
- As a result, stark resemblance specially with the Mobilio is evident. In fact, since it is a long car, from the sides it could very well be called as an MPV.
- After considering the sexier Vezel (also known as HR-V, based on the Jazz platform), Honda decided against it since they analysed that they will not be able to price it appropriately in our market and hence a cheaper compact SUV for Asian markets was developed.
- To build on the SUV/Crossover image, BR-V comes with a bolder face, slightly raised wheel arches, side cladding and roof rails.
Though Honda has not talked about the engine details of BR-V, it is quite evident that it will share the 1.5 liter i-VTEC petrol and i-DTEC diesel engines from the Mobilio range and will sit (much) under the CR-V range.
Complete coverage of Auto Expo 2016
BR-V will fight against Creta and Duster, both of which are 5-seater compact SUVs. This means that Honda would want to use more seating capacity as a major marketing factor. They have confirmed that BR-V will be launched within this year in India and we expect a second half official kick-of-deliveries.