Jazzy Notes

If you have seen and read the hundreds of comments from readers on our web site about the pricing efficacy of the brilliant new Jazz by Honda Siel, you would have thought that the firm had made a major blunder in ushering in this car on to the market.Hold on for a few weeks and the next two variants of Hyundai’s i20 in 1.4-litre petrol and CRDi guise though took the wind out of the sails of all those who bemoaned the pricing. Of course, even Hyundai got the verbal stick from many punters as to the pricing strategy but hey get ready for this – a new breed and class of car owner is surely emerging and its preference is the large hatch.

Let’s get back to the motoring music played out by Honda though. We always said that it was an expensive car but overpriced? We reserved comment and as things have panned out in the marketplace, the company has over 3000 plus bookings and has already managed to deliver two-thirds of that number. What puts this in stark reality is that this has happened without the Jazz cannibalizing the very successful run of the City! Now if this highlights not just the power of the Honda brand but also the power of the thought process behind the car’s concept, the design pushing the large hatch envelope to near mini-MPV proportions and armed with its maker’s legendary DNA especially with regards to its jewels underneath the bonnet, that you can deduce why the Jazz is so special.

And unlike many who have an ear for music but do require to develop their senses to attune to jazz, at the outset it did look like this was also going to afflict Honda’s tiniest baby in India (thanks to the pricing). I am confident however, that as time rolls on, the evolving nature of our car buyers will see them embrace cars like the Jazz with even stronger fervour and passion, pardon the pun! And therein lies the challenge for many, because the large hatchback segment is not just a reality but is critically acquiring mass and momentum which might just shift preferences from both ends of the market it resides in.

This is why one must await two other major models due to barge into this burgeoning segment within the next six to 18 months. One of these is already known and expected, in the form of the Volkswagen Polo but await Toyota’s smallest offering in India. Codenamed the EFC800L, this is what will provide not just Honda but also VW and Maruti Suzuki with the strongest challenge. And like the Polo which will appear in both hatchback and notchback versions, Toyota’s first India or rather Asia-specific small car would be built in similar body versions.

 Makes you realize then that how superior design works best and here Fiat and Honda do rule the roost. Both the Jazz (or the Fit as it is known in Japan) and the Grande Punto are products which spawned the City and the Linea saloons respectively rather than the other way round. Think about it guys!