Honda Malaysia rolled out their first hybrid vehicle last Friday, the Honda Jazz Hybrid, marking the country’s very first locally assembled hybrid vehicle with a price tag that’s RM4,900 less at RM89,900 (OTR + Ins) than the CBU Jazz Hybrid revealed in March this year.
Present at the roll out was Dato’ Mukhriz Tun Mahatir, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as well as Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, Managing Director and CEO of Honda Malaysia.
As usual, where there’s a reduction in price, so too will there be omissions in features that include one touch lane change, automatic wipers, steering –wheel audio controls, paddle-shifters, Hill Start Assist and cruise control.
Drum brakes now occupy the spot where solid discs were located in the aft and now you’ve got Dual SRS airbags up front, having left out the side and curtain airbags that came standard in CBU form. Even the signal stalk has switched to the right as well and you will receive the car with a regular key that’s not of the switch-blade type.
What still remains are the CVT gearbox still remain, coupled to a 1.3L i-VTEC + IMA producing 88bhp + 14bhp (102bhp in total when both motors are used together) ans 121Nm + 78Nm of torque. Not to mention the Ultra Seats, Vehicle Stability Assist, ABS with EBD and BA as well as the Reverse Sensors have yet to be cut from the standard list.
At the moment, both CKD and CBU cars will be sold side-by-side till the latter’s stock has all but sold out and this may cause for some who’ve been keeping a keen eye upon the CBU Jazz Hybrid to step up their efforts and own one.
The Jazz Hybrid in CKD form only has about 10% of local parts going into it as Yoichiro Ueno explained that it only took them 8 months to get the Jazz into local, compared to their usual 18 months – the fastest ever by Honda Malaysia. Additionally, local content will gradually increase over time with the non-Hybrid Jazz planned to become a CKD sometime in 2013.
Ueno proudly mentioned that at current, their hybrid vehicles are the market leaders at the moment at 69% majority and is confident that Honda Malaysia will be able achieve their target of selling 4,800 CKD Jazz Hybrid units per month in 2013.
Currently, the CKD Jazz Hybrid has a 3-year or 100,000 km warranty (whichever comes first), six-month or 10,000 km free service and a 5-year or 140,000km warranty for the IMA battery.
Last but not least, Ueno has also indicated that their local associates have undergone training in both Japan and Thailand to bring them up to speed on the requirements of building a hybrid vehicle. In addition, there will also be a new 2.15km test track in Honda’s Pegoh plant where Honda’s CKD models will be tested before delivery and a new R&D centre in Pegoh will be up and running to help develop and design parts to help increase the percentage of local content.
