Honda has been talking about a small compact SUV for our market for like ages now. They introduced the Jazz-based Vezel aka HR-V internationally raising our hopes, but quashed it for our market citing cost as the main reason. In place, they said a new compact SUV based on Brio will be launched and, although not specifically mentioned, here is the first official glimpse of what will it look like. Called as the BR-V, Honda has released the official sketches of the car which may or may not be a sub 4 meter vehicle for India. BR-V, Honda says stands for Bold Runabout Vehicle (what???).
Honda BR-V will be showcased at Gaikindo Indonesian International Auto Show 2015 which will be held in Indonesia from August 20 to August 30, 2015. The BR-V is the third vehicle to be designed by Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co Ltd based in Thailand.
Brio platform has already spawned the very successful Amaze compact sedan and their MPV Mobilio. In all probability, BR-V will be showcased in India at the Auto Expo 2016 in Delhi and expect a launch sometime later in the same year.
Honda claims that BR-V will offer a comfortable and spacious cabin and confirms it as a seven seater. The three row cabin can thus be expected to take design inputs from Mobilio. The BR-V in Indonesia will be powered by the 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine and in India it will surely get the 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel mill as well. Transmission options will include a choice of two gearboxes of which one can be expected to be an automatic unit.
The sketches reveal a car which uses a tough and solid exterior design, frankly which we were not expecting (from Brio’s platform). It gets sleek roof rails and sharp alloy wheels. A lot of body cladding can be seen which has been mated with skid plates. The front nose carries projector head lamps with a Honda City inspired grille also seen on the Jazz and Mobilio.
So, this is where we are… Let’s hope the real car is absolutely close to this concept…
