Bookings for the soon-to-be-launched saloon Honda Amaze is now open. If you are one of those who are looking to have one of these Honda sedans in their garage then you can now book the car for an initial amount of Rs.21,000. The booking amount is completely refundable and the company is promising a 30 day delivery period to its potential customers for the delivery of the Amaze.
The Honda Amaze is slated to be launched on 11th April and it is expected to carry a price tag somewhere between Rs.6 to 7.5 lacs. The car is expected to come in both diesel and petrol variants. While the petrol engine of the Amaze will be the same 1.2 liter one used in the Honda Brio hatch, the diesel engine is slated to be something revolutionary. The new 1.5 liter diesel engine has been custom made for Indian conditions and will be mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. The petrol variants, on the other hand, will have options of both manual and automatic transmissions.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Honda Amaze will share Brio’s engine as far as the petrol variant is concerned since the car itself is based on the Brio hatch. Certain styling changes have been made to the car to make it look that much different from the Brio. The Amaze will have modified grille, fog lamps (for the Indian variant only) and whole new alloy wheels. But, in a rather smart move, the company has given the Amaze a longer wheelbase compared to the Brio, which results in spacious interiors.
Introduction of a diesel variant will mark a shift in Honda’s strategy, which has so far stuck to petrol cars only and has lost out on a large portion of market share. This is especially true in India since diesel cars a particularly popular in the country. After it is launched, the Amaze will fight for market space with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Tata Manza, Mahindra Verito and Toyota Etios. The segment is currently being led by Maruti Swift Dzire which has established quite a foothold in this segment as of today.