Honda launches its first diesel model, Amaze at Rs 5.99 lakh

Honda has made the first move in plugging a huge gap in its portfolio in India with the launch of Amaze, its first diesel offering. The pricing is also quite competitive: Amaze begins at Rs 5.99 lakh for the base diesel, going up to Rs 6.24 lakh, Rs 6.67 lakh and Rs 7.6 lakh for the top end version. (All prices are ex-showroom Delhi).

We call the pricing competitive since the biggest competitor to Amaze would be Maruti Dzire, which also starts at Rs 5.99 lakh and other two variants are priced at Rs 6.66 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh.

So in terms of price at least, Honda Amaze is a good match to Maruti’s Dzire.

[caption id=“attachment_695026” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Dzire is by far the biggest competitor to Amaze, having sold an average of 18,000 units each month in the last quarter and 20,000 in March alone. Firstpost/ Naresh Sharma[/caption]

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Dzire is by far the biggest competitor to Amaze, having sold an average of 18,000 units each month in the last quarter and 20,000 in March alone.

Will Honda be able to match up to these numbers? Honda Siel Cars India has a manufacturing plant in Greater Noida where the total capacity for all models of Honda in India is 10,000 units a month. Though the company has stopped production of Jazz hatchback to make space for Amaze, it obviously may not be able to match Maruti Suzuki India in the volume game till its second plant at Tapujkara, Rajasthan comes on stream.

Honda has already announced fresh investment of Rs 2500 crore in doubling total manufacturing capacity to 2.4 lakh units.

The Amaze will also be available in petrol variants (four trim levels and two automatic variants) beginning at Rs 4.99 lakh and then variants at Rs 5.24 lakh, Rs 5.62 lakh, Rs 6.6 lakh. The automatic transmission variants come for Rs 6.62 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh.

Other cars which could prove to be competitors include the Toyota Etios which begins at Rs 6.72 lakh is priced all the way up to Rs 8.16 lakh. And the Chevy Sail sedan diesel is priced between Rs 6.29 lakh to Rs 7.52 lakh.

The 1.5 litre diesel engine which powers the Amaze was developed by engineers in Japan, Thailand and India and Honda says it has been developed specially to suit Indian conditions. The engine gives almost 100 bhp power and Honda had claimed that the diesel Amaze can offer 25.8 km to a litre, the highest mileage by any car in India till now.

The petrol variant of Amaze comes with a 1.2 litre engines displacement that is shared with the Brio hatchback. While the diesel-powered car comes with a five-speed manual gearbox, the petrol variant gets options of both a five-speed manual and a five-speed automatic gearbox.

The Amaze comes with interesting features like a special heat absorbing front windshield, which lowers cabin temperature by up to 6 degrees, claims Honda..

A lot is riding on the Amaze for Honda’s Indian dream. No wonder then that Managing Officer of Honda Motor Company, Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, says “Honda Amaze is our most strategic model in the Indian market and has been developed with a strong focus on Indian requirements”.

The Overdrive Magazine did a test drive with the Amaze and it found that from the front, Amaze looks just like the Brio hatchback since it shares the same front half with the hatchback. The only difference being a new front grille that houses a twin slat chrome grille and a fully body coloured bumper. From the side is where one will notice the car is entirely different.

The three box Amaze sedan is under four metres in length and still manages to smartly incorporate a boot, it is stubby like in the Dzire but has been integrated well. The wheelbase has increased by 60mm over the Brio and hence the roof and rear door have also grown.

Overdrive says that the biggest USP of the Amaze is rear cabin space. Despite measuring under four metres, the maximum rear knee room is 930mm, exactly as much as the bigger Honda City. This makes it as spacious as a proper C-segment sedan.

The car comes fitted with a host of standard and comfort features, there are a few unique features like power folding mirrors, special heat deflecting windshield and standard ABS across all variants (competition please make note) while top variants also get dual-front airbags.