Launched 20 months ago, the petrol-engined Elevate did well to bring Honda back into the ‘game’ the company was missing out for long with only two sedans on sale. However, in India’s ultra-competitive midsize SUV market bristling with rivals which offer plenty more in terms of features and powertrains, the Elevate has been found falling short. The Elevate’s export story is a huge success story though.
18 May 2025 | 1019 Views | By Ajit Dalvi & Mayank Dhingra
The Honda Elevate midsize SUV which, soon after its launch in September 2023, had successfully brought the Japanese auto major back into the ‘SUV game’, has hit its lowest monthly sales yet this April. As per the latest SIAM wholesales numbers, the Elevate registered sales of 980 units in ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
The Honda Elevate midsize SUV which, soon after its launch in September 2023, had successfully brought the Japanese auto major back into the ‘SUV game’, has hit its lowest monthly sales yet this April. As per the latest SIAM wholesales numbers, the Elevate registered sales of 980 units in April 2025, down 43% YoY (April 2024: 1,731 units). This is the first time that Elevate sales have fallen to three figures, going below the previous monthly low of 1,340 units in July 2024.
In FY2024, over eight months, the Elevate had sold 33,642 units averaging monthly sales of 4,205 units and accounted for 1.33% of the record 25,20,691 utility vehicles sold in India that fiscal, compared to 0.24% in FY2023. However, demand fell by 34% YoY in FY2025 to 22,321 units – 11,321 fewer units – which saw Honda Cars India’s UV market share fall to below 1% (0.79%) of India UV Inc’s record sales of 2.97 million units.
Sold in nine variants, priced from Rs 12.88 lakh through to 19.35 lakh for the top-end 1.5 i-VTEC ZX CVT Black Edition, the Honda Elevate is powered by the same 121hp, 145 Nm, 1.5-litre four-cylinder i-VTEC petrol engine as in the Honda City, mated with either a six-speed manual or a seven-speed CVT automatic transmission. However, the Elevate which is E20 - (20% ethanol blended) petrol compliant, doesn’t get the City e:HEV’s strong hybrid powertrain option.
A smartly turned-out SUV with good road presence, what ticks the boxes for the Honda Elevate is its driveability, ride and handling balance. What doesn’t is the level of cabin refinement and equipment. And in a sea of midsize rivals like the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Kia Seltos, Tata Curvv, and MG Windsor EV, most of which sport a panoramic sunroof, the Elevate does without one.
MIDSIZE SUV BUYERS EXPECT MORE IN AN EVOLVING MARKET
What could be the reasons that the Honda Elevate has not clicked in the booming domestic midsize SUV market, currently bristling with a host of rival products? Even at launch 21 months ago, the Elevate came across as a weaker preposition compared to its well-established competitors including the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos and the Maruti-Toyota twins (Grand Vitara and Urban Cruiser Hyryder) and since then the midsize SUV market has further evolved.
Compared to the updated Creta or the Seltos, the Elevate feels dated, lacking features and creature comforts today’s SUV or car buyer spending upwards of Rs 10 lakh has come to expect from such products. From the absence of a panoramic sunroof, 360-degree camera and ventilated seats, to an unsatisfying in-vehicle digital experience as a result of an archaic infotainment system and poor HMI, the Elevate does not fare well in today's digital-first lifestyle. Furthermore, where its rivals have graduated to offer useful features like an electronic parking brake (EPB) and auto-hold functionalities, the Elevate would have benefited from offering basics such as an idle engine start-stop system that works using an integrated starter generator (ISG).
While it does well on the safety front and packs Honda’s global standard of safety offering a host of active and passive advanced safety features including the Advanced Driver Assistance System (Honda Sensing), only petrol power in the form of a single 1.5-litre, naturally-aspirated petrol engine mated to either a CVT or manual transmission sees the Elevate falls significantly short of the competition's barrage of powertrain options, including diesel, turbo-petrol, and hybrid. Reports of customer feedback of not-so-good NVH levels in the SUV are also a dampener to midsize SUV buyers who are keen on a pleasant driving experience that keeps them ensconced from noisy traffic.
Where the Elevate shines is its fundamentals in the form of a robust suspension setup that delivers pliant ride quality, plentiful room inside the cabin, and good build quality. But with the SUV market transitioning from buyers preferring a no-frills, long-lasting product, to packed-to-the-gills feature-laden products, the Elevate is currently feeling the heat in the domestic market. That’s not the case in the export market though.
56,000 MADE-IN-INDIA, WR-V-BADGED ELEVATES EXPORTED
In sharp contrast to its domestic market performance, the Honda Elevate has shone in the export market and successfully given a new charge to Honda Cars India’s export programme. India is the first country to manufacture and sell the Elevate, which has a localisation level of more than 90%, globally.
As per SIAM statistics, a total of 56,420 units have been shipped to overseas markets till end-April 2025. The bulk of the export demand has come from Honda’s home market of Japan, along with shipments to South Africa, Nepal and Bhutan.
In FY2023, 10,273 Elevates were exported. It was the second highest export model that fiscal after the City sedan (26,206 units / 70% share) and accounted for 27% of the 37,589 made-in-India vehicles. The other models exported comprise the Amaze (844 units) and WR-V (266 units).
In FY2025, thanks to strong demand originating from Japan (where it is badged as the ‘WR-V’ or Winsome Runabout Vehicle), the Elevate became the No. 1 export model for Honda Cars India. The 45,167 units were a massive 340% YoY increase and catapulted the Elevate to being India’s third most-exported SUV after the Maruti Fronx and Jimny. This was a big jump for the Elevate which was ranked 10th in FY2024. The two Maruti SUVs have also benefited from handsome demand in the Japanese market.
The Elevate for Japan (WR-V), which is powered by the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, looks identical to the India model but gets an all-black interior compared to the dual-tone black-and-beige cabin in the India-market Elevate. The made-for-Japan model also gets a different infotainment screen, presumably for country-specific content.
ALSO READ:
Hyundai Creta to Tata Curvv: Top 10 midsize SUVs in April 2025
Hyundai Creta to Skoda Kushaq: Top 15 midsize SUVs in FY2025
Tech Talk: Honda and Valeo drive affordable ADAS with Honda Sensing