Honda Brio MPV to compete head-on with Ertiga, resembling the Amaze diesel vs Swift DZire battle

Honda has long chased Maruti Suzuki in the compact sedan segment in India and its latest offering; Honda Amaze was positioned in competition to the Swift Dzire. After Amaze, the Japanese automobile manufacturer is eyeing the mini MPV space after seeing the tremendous response Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is drawing. It is now working on the prototype of Brio MPV, which will be not just be competing with Ertiga but also the newly launched Chevrolet Enjoy.

Honda’s engineers and design professionals are already working on the Brio MPV design. They are striving hard to come up with a design that closely resembles and outperforms the Ertiga’s design and specifications. When it comes to comparison between the Ertiga and the soon be launched MPV by Honda, the comparison does not stop at the engines. The industry is closely watching how Honda will come up with a MPV that is top-class and offers optimum fuel-efficiency, classic trait of most Honda models.

If you have already seen the official MPV rendering released by Honda some time, then it is no herculean task to figure out that the MPV’s design is heavily inspired from the Amaze. The Brio MPV is expected to be launched in India by next year. The MPV will be competing with the current top seller of the compact MPV segment, Ertiga on all platforms like engineering, design, price, size and specifications. The official sketch was launched in Indonesia as well as Honda is targeting the Asian markets.

The sketch will also be displayed at the 21st Indonesia International Motor Show which will be organized between September 19th and September 29th in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. Following this, it will be displayed in India in early 2014 at the 2014 Auto Expo.
President Director of P.T. Honda Prospect Motor, Tomoki Uchida stated that the new MPV from Honda has been specifically developed to meet the evolving needs and requirements of buyers and also the changing road characteristics in the South Asian country of Indonesia. He further added that the MPV model will be produced locally in Indonesia. The MPV will be the debut product to be manufactured at the Honda’s second manufacturing plant in Karawang.

The plant will begin operations in the first half of 2014. He mentioned that this added a personal touch to the MPV for the buyers in Indonesia and also makes it extremely special for the Japanese carmaker. Designed and developed for the Asian car market by Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co, the soon-to-be-launched MPV will battle it out with the hot-selling Ertiga on different fronts.

Positioned as an entry level MPV, this upcoming product from Honda will be fitted with seven seats and will feature a 3 row seating arrangement. The cabin will be spacious enough and Honda will be provided a bundle of high-end safety features in its mini MPV.  Just like Ertiga, the Brio MPV will also have 185 mm of ground clearance.

The Brio MPV will have diesel and petrol engine variants in the Indian market. Honda officials have also stated that the MPV will follow the new Jazz which is also scheduled for 2014 launch in India.