Honda launches its first diesel car, the Amaze, for India

New Delhi, April 11, 2013: Honda Cars India has launched its much-awaited first diesel car for the Indian market: the all-new entry level Amaze saloon based on the Brio platform. Equipped with the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine based on Honda’s new-generation Earth Dreams technology, the company claims that the Amaze is one of the most fuel- efficient diesel cars in India, delivering fuel efficiency of 25.8 kilometres per litre.

While the petrol-engined Amaze will be available with both manual and automatic transmission, the diesel will come only with a manual transmission. The starting price for the four petrol variants with manual transmission is Rs 4.99 lakh for the E trim going up to Rs 6.60 lakh for the VX variant. The automatic variant will come in two versions with the Amaze SAT priced at Rs 6.62 lakh and the VXAT trim at Rs 7.50 lakh. In diesel guise, the Amaze will have 4 trim levels with the starting price for the E variant being Rs 5.99 lakh and the top-end VX version costing Rs 7.60 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi).

The Honda Amaze has been developed at Honda R&D Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. The 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel has been developed from scratch in Japan. The petrol Amaze is powered with the same 1.2 litre i-VTEC petrol engine as the one fitted in the Brio hatchback.

SHOBHA MATHUR