Honda, a car manufacturer from Japan, has stopped the production of several models in our market including the WR-V, Jazz hatchback, and diesel versions of the Amaze and the City sedan.
Presently, they are only selling the Amaze petrol and the City sedan with petrol and strong hybrid powertrains.
To boost their sales, Honda plans to introduce a new mid-sized SUV in the country during the festive season before Diwali.
The said SUV is expected to make its global debut in June 2023.
According to reports, the upcoming SUV from Honda will be named the Honda Elevate, as the name has already been registered in the Indian market.
The new SUV has been spotted several times during testing on Indian roads.
Based on the spy images, it appears that the design of the new Honda SUV will draw inspiration from the CR-V and HR-V models that are available in select international markets.
The new SUV will be positioned between the WR-V and HR-V in Honda’s global SUV line-up.
The upcoming Honda SUV will be created and engineered using the fifth generation City platform.
This indicates that the SUV will support both petrol and hybrid powertrains.
It will also feature the well-known 1.5-litre 4-cylinder naturally-aspirated petrol engine from the City sedan.
This engine can generate 121bhp and 145Nm of torque. Additionally, the SUV will provide a choice between manual and CVT automatic gearbox options.
Like the City hybrid, the upcoming Honda SUV will also feature a strong hybrid technology called the e:HEV, which includes a 1.5-litre Atkinson cycle engine.
This powertrain option will come equipped with two electric motors.
When running in hybrid mode, the petrol engine will produce 98bhp, while with electric assistance it will deliver 109bhp.
The combined torque output of the hybrid powertrain is rated at 253Nm.
According to speculations, there’s a possibility that the SUV may come with a 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which is currently available in the City RS model sold in Thailand.
This engine has the ability to generate 120bhp at 5500rpm and a peak torque of 173Nm at 2000-4500rpm.
The engine will be mated to a 7-speed continuously variable transmission (CVT).
The upcoming SUV will feature Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology, which includes collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and auto high-beam.
Furthermore, the SUV will be equipped with a 360-degree camera, Honda’s Lane Watch system for detecting blind spots, six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, VSM, hill launch assist, and an electronic parking brake.
The most significant modification will be the interior, which will feature a larger, all-new touchscreen infotainment display and a digital driver display.
