After a long wait, the Honda is finally launching HR-V in India and is expected to go on sale here around the festive season
Recently, Honda HR-V was spied on test under heavy camouflages in India and will be launched in India in the near future. The new SUV, which will be slotted between the WR-V and the CR-V will go on sale around this year’s festive season and will be powered by a BSVI-compliant set of motors.
The engine options on offer will include the same set of motors that are available on the latest Honda Civic. These include a 1.8-litre petrol and a 1.6-litre diesel. While the former comes mated to a CVT, the latter is paired with a 6-speed manual transmission.
In India, the Honda HR-V will be pitted against a host of SUVs in the 10-20 lakh rupee price bracket. These will include everything from the Creta and upcoming Kia Seltos to the Tata Harrier and MG Hector. The HR-V should have a starting price of roughly Rs. 12 lakh. The top-end model would not cost any more than Rs 19 lakh (ex-showroom).
It is said that the Honda HR-V SUV was shown to select dealership principals in New Delhi also and that the carmaker is very keen on introducing the new model in India at the earliest. It is said that the company could exploit the recently import norm relaxation that allows the import of 2,500 CBU/CKD-built vehicles without homologation. The same approach will be taken by Volkswagen to import the T-Roc in India.
Hence, Honda Cars India could decide to import CKD units of the HR-V and assemble it locally. Even the local manufacturing could be adopted at a later stage in case the demand for the Honda HR-V is enough to justify an investment. This, however, will be done only when the next-gen model is to be introduced to the country.
Like we said, the Honda HR-V will be slotted between the slow-selling WR-V and CR-V. It looks like the company will bring the SUV to India in order to capture Rs 15-20 Lakh car market, where the only vehicle it has is the Civic and the ever-increasing demand for SUVs has pushed the company to bring the HR-V to India.