Honda recently released a teaser for the City hatchback, which will serve as a replacement for the Jazz, in the Malaysian market
Japanese carmaker Honda has officially unveiled the City hatchback for the Malaysian market, as a replacement for the Jazz, which was recently phased out in the country. First introduced in Thailand last year, Honda City hatchback is essentially the same as its sedan sibling, but shorter in length with a smaller boot.
The Thai-spec Honda City hatchback is available in four variants – S+, SV, RS, and RS e:HEV – with the last one being a hybrid model. Powering the e:HEV variant of the City hatchback is a 1.5-litre petrol engine, which comes paired with two electric motors that act as the transmission system. The maximum power and torque are rated at 109 PS and 253 Nm, respectively.
The other variants of the Honda hatch come with a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine under the hood, which is capable of generating 122 PS and 173 Nm of peak power and torque, respectively. There is just one transmission option on offer here – a CVT – which is extremely easy and convenient to drive.
The City hatchback has a lot of features on offer, like LED headlights & DRLs, LED taillights, 16-inch alloy wheels, a semi-digital instrument cluster (with 7-inch TFT MID), an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity), Honda Connect, keyless entry, push-button start/stop, remote engine start, automatic climate control (with rear AC vents), etc.
The vehicle also gets Honda SENSING intelligent safety suite, which includes collision mitigation braking system, adaptive cruise control, road departure mitigation system (with lane departure warning), lane-keeping assist system, and automatic high-beam. Other safety features on offer include auto brake hold, e-parking brake, multi-angle rear-view camera, and Honda Lane Watch.
The teaser for Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia takes a clever dig at Toyota Yaris, which will be its biggest rival there. As for the Indian market, Honda has not revealed any plans for launching the City hatchback here yet. Considering that the vehicle is way longer than four metres, it won’t fall into the sub-4-metre tax bracket (unlike the Jazz), and thus bringing it to our market would not be a smart move.