Honda has unveiled the Mobilio, a MPV that’s built on the Brio platform. The Mobilio has been unveiled at the Indonesia International Motor Show held in Jakarta. The MPV will be made in Indonesia, from a new factory from 2014. India will get this MPV sometime next year and will be the third Brio platform based car to be launched in India.

Honda already sells the Brio hatchback and Amaze compact sedan, and both cars are quite successful. The Mobilio will be sold with petrol and turbo diesel engine options in India. In Indonesia, only the petrol engined model will be sold as petrol engined cars are more popular there. For the Indian market, either the 1.5 liter petrol engine or a smaller 1.2 liter petrol engine could be launched.

The diesel engine will be the 1.5 liter i-DTEC turbo diesel motor that was first seen on the Amaze compact sedan. While the Indonesian Mobilio gets manual and CVT automatic gearbox options, the Indian model could get only the 5 speed stick shifter. In India, the Honda Mobilio will go head to head with the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. So, expect similar pricing as well. Honda has learnt its lessons with the pricing fiasco of the Jazz hatchback.

High levels of localization will be explored on the Mobilio also. The Mobilio will be the first MPV that Honda will launch in the Indian car market. The Mobilio is bigger than the Ertiga. The MPV’s 4.4 meter length is much higher than that of the Ertiga. This length makes the Mobilio match the Toyota Innova. Since we’ve seen how efficient Honda’s been when it comes to space management, acres of space could be offered on the Mobilio.

With the Amaze turning out to be a good seller, Honda has made a comeback in India. Cars like the Mobilio, all new Jazz and next gen City will be the products that could make the Honda stronger in the coming days. Honda will also launch a compact SUV based on the Jazz in India. All these cars will get diesel engines. So, only the Brio seems to be missing a diesel engine and Honda is already developing a smaller diesel engine for that car.

source: https://goo.gl/eR5po5 - indiancarsandbikes.com