The Honda WR-V was first introduced back in March 2017 to be a prominent player in the growing sub-four-metre compact-SUV segment
Honda Car India has opened bookings for the new 2020 BS6-compliant avatar of the WR-V sub-four-metre compact-SUV. The booking amount stands at Rs 21,000 for both the petrol and diesel variants of the BS6 Honda WR-V. The crossover is based on the same platform as the Honda Jazz premium hatchback and was initially introduced back in March 2017.
The WR-V never really worked out in the Indian market as the Japanese brand had hoped. It was launched with the intention to absorb a good chunk of the rising compact-SUV market that was dominated by the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. However, with the introduction of strong players such as the Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Hyundai Venue, the demand for the Honda WR-V went down substantially.
Even the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has lost its top position to the Hyundai Venue in the sales chart of February 2020. The new BS6 Vitara Brezza is not available in a diesel format anymore while the outgoing BS4 model came only in a diesel avatar. In this regard, the Honda WR-V BS6 will be available in both fuel formats.
As mentioned before, the Honda WR-V has been relatively less popular compared to the other choices in the subcompact-SUV market. The upcoming BS6 version aims to put an end to this with its revised styling that incorporates a new front grille, LED projector headlamps, LED fog lamps, sunroof, new bumper design and, of course, LED tail lamps. Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President (Sales & Marketing) at Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) stated that the company is confident about the WR-V BS6’s success. He added that the Honda WR-V will be able to appeal to customers who follow “an active lifestyle”.
The company has not revealed the full specifications of the WR-V BS6 power plants yet. We expect them to showcase similar (or slightly lesser) output figures compared to the outgoing BS4 model. To give a comparison, the BS4 Honda WR-V comes with either a 1.2-litre petrol or 1.5-litre diesel four-cylinder engine. The power plants are shared with the Honda Jazz.
The i-VTEC petrol engine is evidently on the weaker side with output figures rated at 89bhp and 110Nm. It comes mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. On the other hand, the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel mill is good for 99bhp and 200Nm of torque while coupled to a 6-speed manual transmission. The Honda WR-V does not come with an automatic variant even though its rivals do.