Honda has a few K-cars in the Japanese market like the Honda ZEST (shown above) and the Honda Life, but they’ve been reserved for the Japanese market so far. I actually drove the Honda ZEST with the turbocharged 660cc i-DSI engine last year during the visit to Honda’s R&D facility in Tochigi and it really felt quite zippy thanks to the turbocharger’s torque and the 4-speed automatic.
India’s Honda Siel has revealed that Honda is working on developing a new car smaller than the Honda Jazz for emerging markets – that’s pretty much markets such as the Indian and ASEAN market, so we may even see it in Malaysia as a contender to the likes of the Hyundai i10 and the Kia Picanto.
The powerplant is currently a question mark, but Honda Siel says the engine could possibly be under 1.0 litres in displacement. Honda has two 660cc engines – a normally aspirated version which produces 52hp at 6,700rpm and 61Nm of torque at 3,800rpm, and a turbo-ed version with a top-mounted intercooler making 64hp at 6,000rpm and 93Nm of torque at 4,000rpm.
Given that Honda’s Indian unit is the one revealing this juicy bit of info, India could most likely be the production base for the new car.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
lalala 1st…..
Keep on dreaming Honda… Now India is the base of Hyundai… Lot of Hyundai are on the road… It will be tough for Honda if they still sell their expensive car…
1st sight has similar shape as Kenari
looks like kelisa with long skrit..
my friend’s friend looks like my brother’s friend’s friend’s cousin but with slightly longer nose, sharper eyes and wide lips. anyway both are human, under 20 years old boy anyway…..
kancildriver said,
October 17, 2008 @ 9:28 pm
my friend’s friend looks like my brother’s friend’s friend’s cousin but with slightly longer nose, sharper eyes and wide lips. anyway both are human, under 20 years old boy anyway…..
HAR?
before u guys complaining about k-car..let me explain something.
actually `k` come from `kei` meaning `light` or `ringan`.kei-sha means light-car..and if u go to japan,almost all kei-sha having the same basic shape..they dont tiru kenari,kenari yg tiru them..only exterior have same shape..interior not..
if this car is introduced here, many can finally afford their first honda. heh
Wargh! Stepped door! At last savvy get a brother..
new honda city is coming on december.
DtG,
I’m just sick of people commenting “this car looks like that car”; “the shape is like X car” ; “looks like Y car’s”. Like db8 said, they are K cars. It is not surprising to be resembling each other. Well, Pajero, Trooper are resembling each other right? So does Stream and Wish. Cheers.
Base on the look of the door handle, i assume this is the low price model of K car for Honda to stike the huge cheese cake in India. But it is not that easy to do that as the Hyundai cheap small car had already conquer the major market. And i wonder how cheap can this honda K car can archieve….
i wish the jazz was cheaper