Surprise, surprise, the Honda CR-Z is still on sale in Malaysia, but with a brand new price. The CBU from Japan hybrid coupe is now yours for RM183k for the manual and RM188k for the CVT automatic, on-the-road with insurance, as displayed on Honda Malaysia’s website.
UPDATE: The Civic Hybrid, another CBU Japan hybrid, has a new price of RM185,500. Full story here.
That’s a big RM64k-65k jump from the CR-Z facelift’s original price of RM119k for the manual and RM123k for the auto when it was launched here in February 2013. Those figures were with full import tax and excise duty exemption, a below 2.0L CBU hybrid incentive package that expired on December 31, 2013, as announced in NAP 2014. Current hybrid/electric incentives are only for locally assembled models such as the Mercedes-Benz S 400 L Hybrid.
The Honda CR-Z isn’t the first CBU hybrid to see a big jump in price – if follows UMW Toyota’s Prius c (now RM153,170) and Prius (now RM216,400 to RM230,916), plus Lexus Malaysia’s CT 200h, which was reintroduced in facelift form in July, priced from RM256,885 to RM325,324. All were popular in Malaysia, along with the Audi A6 Hybrid.
No change in spec, so the little coupe continues to be powered by a 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine, assisted by a IMA motor that sucks juice from a 144-volt, 18.8 kW lithium-ion battery.
Combined system output is 136 PS at 6,600 rpm and 190 Nm between 1,000 rpm to 2,000 rpm. For the CVT variant, it’s 135 PS at 6,600 rpm and 172 Nm from 1,000 rpm to 3,000 rpm. Facelifted CR-Zs get a S+ boost button in addition to the usual Normal, Sport and Econ modes.
Standard equipment includes HID headlamps, auto lights and wipers, auto air con and cruise control. Safety wise, there’s ABS, Brake Assist, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Isofix child seat mounts and six airbags (front, side and curtain).
Honda CR-Z owners, aren’t you glad you bought one? ;)
