Honda launches WR-V: Features, pricing and availability

Japanese automaker Honda wants to bring back luxury cars toits products stable, and will focus on quality segments to retain its edge inthe Indian market, a top official said.

Launching the new WR-V (short for Winsome Runabout Vehicle),a sub-compact SUV, which will compete with the likes of Maruti Vitara Brezza,Mahindra KUV100, Hyundai i20 Active and Ford EcoSport, Y Ueno, President andCEO of Honda Car India, hinted on the return of the Civic sedan to the country.

"We are exploring the possibility as customers haveshown tremendous interest in the car (Civic), which ruled the executive sedansegment for long in India. The current generation has been a global success andwe are just trying to work on the right price matrix for the Indian market thatis acceptable to customers," he said. 

Honda's WR-V has been introduced as a premium SUV with thestarting price at Rs 7.75 lakh while the top version will cost Rs 9.99 lakh. Itis the first vehicle developed by the company's Indian R&D team in closeassociation with its Japanese counterpart. The car is positioned as a sportymachine, based on Honda's globally successful Jazz platform.

The crossover-SUV measures 3,999mm in length, 1,734mm inwidth and 1,601mm in height, and comes with a wheelbase of 2,555mm. Sharing itsDNA with the current City, it is powered by a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel unit thatcan deliver 99 horsepower and 200 Nm of torque, and comes mated to a 6-speedtransmission set-up. The petrol mill is a 1.2-litre i-VTEC that delivers closeto 90 horsepower or 110 Nm of torque, and it comes with a 5-speed manualtransmission.  On the mileage front, thediesel scores with 25.5 km per litre while the petrol version delivers 17.5 kmper litre. 

Keeping its safety quotient high, Honda has standardiseddual airbags along with options such as ABS with EBD across all the fourvariants. Top-end features like electric sunroof, cruise control, tiltsteering, and 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system are also available in thehigher variants.

This is the second SUV-type vehicle from Honda after itbrought out the BR-V last year. The company, however, has not ruled out newconcepts for the Indian market. 

Honda WR-V prices (Ex-showroom Delhi):

S Petrol - Rs 7.75 lakh

VX Petrol - Rs 8.99 lakh

S Diesel - Rs 8.79 lakh

VX Diesel - Rs 9.99 lakh

Dimensions: