Honda Cars India has announced the launch of new Amaze facelift today – Base E variant continues with pre-facelift avatar
The 2021 Honda Amaze has been launched along with a tagline of ‘Jeete Hain Shaan Se‘, which roughly translates into ‘We Live with Pride’. This also means that Honda wants to position the Amaze as a premium product in the segment in which it competes in.
Major Updates
As the 2021 model is a facelift, most of the changes on the model have been cosmetic. Updates include a new front grille, updated design of alloy wheels, redesigned tail-lamps, new projector headlamps, silver accents on the inside etc.
Mechanically, there is almost no change to the car. Under the hood, there are two engine options which are on offer. These include a 98 bhp 1.5 litre iDTEC diesel motor and a 89 bhp 1.2 litre iVTEC petrol engine. Transmission options include both Manual and Automatic, in the form of a 6-speed MT and a CVT gearbox.
Facelifted Amaze is on offer with only 2 variants – S and VX. The base E trim is on offer, but it is in pre-facelift avatar. New Amaze S petrol 1.2 MT is priced from Rs 7.16 lakhs while diesel S Amaze MT costs Rs 9.26 lakh. Top of the line petrol CVT Amaze costs Rs 9.05 lakh and Diesel CVT costs Rs 11.15 lakh. All prices are ex-sh.
The top of the line VX trim gets features like LED DRLs, touchscreen infotainment compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Projector Headlamps, Climate Control, height adjustment functionality for driver’s seat and much more. Safety features include ABS with EBD, ISOFIX child seat mounts and dual front airbags, which have been made standard across the range.
Competition
Like before, the Amaze will be competing with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Hyundai Aura, Ford Aspire and Tata Tigor. The segment has seen a relative slowdown with increase in demand of sub 4 metre compact SUVs and the lower growth in the shared mobility segment purchases (Ola/Uber vehicles).
Honda currently sells the City (both, 4th and 5th generation models), WR-V, Jazz and the Amaze. In the future, Honda will try and make an entry in the SUV segment, where there has been considerable action from multiple OEMs in the last few years.
One potential candidate for the Indian market from Honda’s global line-up would be the Honda HR-V, which could become a direct challenger to the likes of Kia Seltos, Hyundai Creta and Skoda Kushaq. Due to overall slowdown in demand, Honda had earlier consolidated its Indian manufacturing hubs, which had resulted in discontinuation of relatively lesser selling models like the CR-V and Civic.
