Honda Mobilio all geared up to rave up the compact MPV market of India

The official news has been already out that Honda Cars India is all ready to launch the new Mobilio multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in India next month. The new highly awaited vehicle will launch in the second fortnight of July. The new upcoming 7-seater MPV has been developed keeping in mind the Asian countries, which makes it ideal to launch in India. The Honda Mobilio will be the third car to be based on the Brio hatchback’s platform (after the Brio and the Amaze). The Mobilio is being manufactured and has been already spied being rolled out from Honda’s Greater Noida production facility.

Honda India’s Senior Vice-President of the Marketing and Sales division, Jnaneswar Sen revealed to the media about the Mobilio recently, saying that the Honda Mobilio is the company’s first venture in the MPV segment of India. However, as Honda has a sturdy MPV heritage in the international markets with high quality vehicles such as the Odyssey, Stepwagon and Freed, the company is confident about its upcoming launch in India. Sen said that the company has made use of its vast experience and expertise in the MPV line while developing the Mobilio MPV.

The Honda Mobilio will not be a sub-4 meter vehicle, as it has a length of 4.4 meters and thus, will not be enjoying tax subsidies. Honda stresses on the fact that the vehicle is made to be spacious and comfortable. This means that the Mobilio will be more spacious than its primary market rival, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. The Honda Mobilio MPV will also offer the best in class ground clearance of 185mm. Sen also pointed that the company has targeted at offering more interior space and very comfortable third row in the Mobilio than any of its close rivals. However, he also points out that the car has been intelligently built to offer great superior space on the inside, while being compact on the outside to offer easy maneuverability and easy parking.

The Honda Mobilio will be offered in both petrol and diesel versions powered by the 1.5 liter petrol as well as diesel engines that are currently running the new Honda City sedan. However, the engines will have a different tune for the Mobilio. Both the engines will be mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox as standard, while the petrol engine will also offer the option of an automatic CVT transmission.

Due to its premium looks, great interior space and sporty looks, the Honda Mobilio is expected to be a massive hit and dampen the markets of both the Maruti Ertiga and the larger, segment leader Toyota Innova. The Honda Mobilio is expected to have a price range of between Rs. 7 lakhs to Rs. 11 lakhs. Being a larger and a more premium vehicle than the current compact MPV market leader Ertiga, the upcoming Honda Mobilio will thus cost much more than the Ertiga as well. The Mobilio’s actual market prices will be known at the time of launch next month.