GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Honda Jazz goes country
Urban-focused light hatch to spawn X-Road variant with bush-bashing looksHonda plans to introduce a variant of its tiny Jazz hatch with 16-inch alloy wheels, "rugged" black plastic wheel-arch mouldings/side skirts and silver-painted front and rear 'underruns'.
Named Jazz X-Road, the new variant is to be introduced at the Geneva motor show during the second week of March. In essence it's a cosmetic pack to toughen up the looks of the diminutive Jazz in standard form (as pictured). Honda's European press release states that the Jazz X-Road will be powered by a 76kW 1.3-litre engine, with a choice of manual gearbox or CVT.
The same press release reveals that Honda will roll out its CR-V Hybrid once more, but the company makes the odd claim that Geneva will be the fuel-saving SUV's "European premiere". That indicates the CR-V headed for Geneva will appear in official production trim, unlike the vehicle in Frankfurt late last year, which was described as a 'prototype'.
According to Honda Australia, it's too early to say whether we could see the CR-V Hybrid or the Jazz X-Road here, but the prospects seem slim for the petrol/electric CR-V, unless it can be built in Thailand, along with other Australian-spec models.
Honda at Geneva will also lift the wraps off three electric vehicles that have previously made their respective debuts. These three are Frankfurt's Urban EV Concept, the Sports EV Concept that debuted last year in Tokyo and the NeuV concept unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Another first-time appearance for Honda in Geneva is this year's Civic Type R TCR, which will contest the inaugural WTCR season this year. The swoopy race machine is one of a contingent of motor-sport machines – two wheels as well as four – that will be on stage to promote Honda's competition heritage. Joining the Type R TCR is the NSX GT3, plus two-wheeled examples in the form of MotoGP, World Superbike and Dakar Rally machines.
The Geneva motor show will run from March 8 to 18, and motoring.com.au will be there to cover the event.
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