Tokyo show: Honda teases all-new Jazz

HONDA has confirmed it will unveil its fourth-generation Jazz light car at the Tokyo motor show next week, previewing the all-new model with a single silhouette image and the announcement that it will be a hybrid-only proposition when it goes on sale in Europe.

The shadowy image confirms little other than that the new Jazz will continue the almost one-box profile of its predecessors, which have set segment benchmarks for interior space and practicality.

Honda Australia dropped the Jazz Hybrid in 2015, having introduced it in 2013 as a Thai-sourced range-topper priced at $22,990 plus on-road costs, in an attempt to take on the Toyota Prius C.

As for the new model, Honda Australia public relations manager Naomi Rebeschini told GoAuto it is still too early to provide details on what the local line-up will look like or when it will launch here.

Toyota has confirmed its hi-tech fourth-generation Yaris light car will go on sale in Australia next year with hybrid drivetrain options, following on from the Corolla small car and RAV4 medium SUV. The market leader’s updated C-HR small SUV is also confirmed to include hybrid power from December.

Accompanying Honda’s teaser image of the new Jazz is a promise that the model has been “redesigned with the passenger at its heart” and will “raise the bar in terms of comfort and driver enjoyment”.

The press release goes on to describe the petrol-electric powerplant as “an advanced two-motor hybrid” and claims it will deliver “an exceptional blend of strong and effortless driving performance and impressive fuel economy”.

A hybrid version of the Jazz was first offered on the Japanese market in late 2010, with Europe receiving petrol-electric variants the following year and Thai production of the hybrid beginning in 2012.

The Jazz is battling in an Australian light-car segment down 13.3 per cent year-to-date, with sales of the little Honda plummeting even faster at 19.2 per cent, with 4478 units reported sold to the end of September.

With 4427 reported units YTD, Volkswagen’s Polo is catching up with the Jazz on the back of a 21.2 per cent sales uptick, while Chinese-made newcomer, the MG3, is eroding market share all round with its 2853 sales winning it 5.9 per cent of the segment.

All other light-car competitors are down double digits, apart from the Kia Rio (down 3.5 per cent) and Toyota Yaris (down 3.4 per cent).