Honda Jazz ready for second launch

When Honda Jazz was launched in 2010 for the first time in India with price tag of Rs 7 lakh, the product flopped as its price was higher than its rivals - Hyundai i20, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo and Maruti Suzuki Swift.

Its sales dipped from a little over 7,500 units in its debut year, to a little over 4,100 units by 2011-12. Honda was forced to cut its price by Rs 1.62 lakh, but by then the brand's equity had taken a solid beating, according to the Economic Times. In the four years of its life, the Jazz sold just 23,000 units.

This time around, Honda's more on the money with the model that remains its largest selling hatchback globally, having sold 5.5 million units since launch.

With a tag of Rs 5.31 lakh, the Jazz, running into its third generation, is priced identically to the starting price of its biggest rival, the Hyundai Elite i20. Unlike the solitary petrol offering last time around, the Jazz now has a 1.5 litre iDTEC diesel stable mate, made exclusively for India and priced competitively at between Rs 6.49 lakh and Rs 8.59 lakh; the 1.2 litre i-VTEC petrol engine stretches up to Rs 7.29 lakh.

"We have enhanced the range with 12 variant across multiple transmissions," says Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president, market and sales, at Honda Car India.

If the perception is that Honda got its pricing wrong six years ago, Sen prefers to believe that the Jazz was "ahead of its time," and it's only now that the "market has evolved. We need to realise that neither it is the same (domestic) market nor the same product."

(Image: Indiatimes)