MK4 Jazz ?

[jazzaro]

New ones will be intelligent Multi-Mode Drive (i-MMD), same as the C-RV hybrid.

Yep. The pattern is the same, but Jazz will have a smaller i-mmd, I hope similar to the new Insight.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a26287347/2019-honda-insight-reliability-maintenance/

[Downsizer]

Yep. The pattern is the same, but Jazz will have a smaller i-mmd, I hope similar to the new Insight.
[/quote]
Eliminating the gearbox/cvt should save a bob or two, but against that, two electric motors and a battery have to be paid for.  My guess is that only the base model will be under £20k, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

[jazzaro]

Yep. The pattern is the same, but Jazz will have a smaller i-mmd, I hope similar to the new Insight.

Eliminating the gearbox/cvt should save a bob or two, but against that, two electric motors and a battery have to be paid for.  My guess is that only the base model will be under £20k, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

IMHO  price comparison has to be done with Toyota Yaris Hsd, the main competitor in B hybrid segment. Also Yaris has no traditional gearbox (there's only an epiciclic gear), has two electric motors (but smaller than Hondas), has battery and has a regulator.
Jazz's cabin is bigger, but this cannot bring Honda to overprice its B car if she (he? it?) want to fight against Toyota: it would mean losing before the start.

[Downsizer]

The more competition there is in this sector the better for us all!  As far as I can see, the cheapest hybrid Yaris is listed at £18,390, and a few additions soon reaches £20k.

[jazzaro]

Sure!!
I'm only worried because the first Jazz hybrid lost the competition with Yaris and Auris, since the price of the Jazz was similar to the price of an Auris (almost in Italy..). So price placement of this new Jazz has to be different from the second generation.

[Jocko]

I am sure Honda will have judged exactly where it wants the new Jazz to sit.

[langserve]

We went to our Honda dealer today to get some work done on our 2019 Fit (don't ask) and chatted with the salesman. According to him:


1. It will be available with a petrol engine instead of hybrid, in Japan, at least. We don't all buy hybrids here though an awful lot do even when they live in small cities and their mileage is modest.

2. The styling is an attempt to woo back young female buyers who have more or less deserted the GK Fit.

[Downsizer]

2. The styling is an attempt to woo back young female buyers who have more or less deserted the GK Fit.

In the UK, I don't think any Jazz has been popular with young drivers, male or female.  I'm puzzled as to why young Japanese ladies don't like the GK series!

[langserve]

2. The styling is an attempt to woo back young female buyers who have more or less deserted the GK Fit.

In the UK, I don't think any Jazz has been popular with young drivers, male or female.  I'm puzzled as to why young Japanese ladies don't like the GK series!

I don't claim any special skills in this department but I am told the GK series fails the kawaii test. It is too angular and butch looking. It needed to have more curves and be prettier.

I think Honda hope to get young couples to buy a Jazz/Fit as their first family car and then trade up to a bigger Honda later. And not just Japan - I think kawaii culture has spread all over asia and especially the far east. Look at how ubiquitous something like Hello Kitty is.

I see some young people driving Jazz/Fits but most are middle aged and older drivers - of which there are a huge numbers here. I have seen a surprising number of fully restored GD1s with varying levels of modifications driven by young people. The latest generation looks very similar to the GD1 shape to me. Perhaps that's why - Honda have detected a bit of a cult following for the GD1 among young people.

[jazzaro]

I agree with the salesman, talking about style, point two, my wife likes the Mk4 more than our GK.
About point one... this are EU sales data:
The graph http://carsalesbase.com/european-sales-2018-subcompact-car-segment/ says that  european brands are main sellers in Europe, and all non-europeans brands fight for crumbs. All except Toyota with Yaris.
Another interesting data can be found here:
https://newsroom.toyota.eu/45-of-toyota-motor-europe-tme-sales-in-q1-are-hybrid-electric-vehicles/
More than 50% of Yaris, in EUDM, are sold as hybrid, so looks like that non-EU brands can sell good amount of cars only if they have hybrids in their range.
I talk about Europe and not single countries, too small to be considered by manufacturers even if UK  is main selling country for Honda, 1 Honda of 3 sold in EUDM is RHD.
My cent: maybe Honda big bosses have considered that in EU it's not possible to earn money anymore with their traditional powetrains in cheaper segments, so they're moving the production to hybrids and EVs. And maybe many of who would buy a Jazz in Europe would switch to hybrid if possible, so jazz sold with traditional petrol engines (and manual gearboxes) would be less than the present GKs; too poor sales for a variant, shipped from Japan, to be worth... So in EUDM only hybrid Jazz.
Maybe this switch is also to modify the brand's image as something of high tech, clean and "different from usual choice"...