Honda prepping new SUV likely to attract SA’s attention

Honda’s rollout of new or updated models is set to continue in 2023 with a report from India claiming the unveiling of an all-new mid-size SUV later this year.

Although known that a replacement for the WR-V will become apparent in the third quarter of the year, the newcomer will take station above the latter and become the marque’s new flagship as neither the HR-V nor the CR-V are sold in India.

Emphasis on premium

With the absence of both the Civic and Accord in India, the newly facelifted City, known as the Ballade in South Africa, tops Honda’s passenger vehicle line-up as production of the current WR-V has already ended at the Tapukara Plant in Rajasthan.

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According to Honda India’s President and CEO, Takuya Tsumura, capacity at the facility will be expanded in the run-up the new SUV’s assembly from the current 540 vehicles a day, to 660 come April.

In making the announcement to Autocar India, Tsumura stated that the automaker is also looking into bringing more premium models to India in complete knockdown (CKD) and complete build-up (CBU) kit forms, though he didn’t state which are being looked into.

What it means for South Africa

With current sourcing of the BR-V, WR-V, Amaze and Ballade for South Africa coming from the Tapukara Plant, the new unnamed SUV could potentially be earmarked for South Africa as it will likely be cheaper than the HR-V, sold as the Vezel in Japan, that originates from Thailand.

“It will be exported internationally and won’t be exclusive to India or South Africa, but will become a global model and exported to other markets, including Japan,” Honda South Africa’s Product Manager Callon Locke told The Citizen last year of the WR-V’s replacement that is expected in South Africa this year.

The other end of the spectrum in Honda focusing on premium models could lead to it assembling vehicles from other markets should that be the case.

Although the Autocar report stopped short of naming any particulars, it did state that one new model will, for an disclosed period, be added to Honda’s line-up from 2023 onwards.

For now nothing else is known, with the same applying to whether the premium models could potentially be converted from left to right-hand-drive which would open the door to models such as the Passport and Pilot sold in the United States.

At present though, such an announcement by Honda South Africa remains outstanding, but expect mentioning to made once the new array of models emerge from Tapukara.

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