Honda Motor Company, on Thursday, launched its much-awaited entry-level sedan Amaze in the Indian market, which is likely to give tough competition to market leader Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire, with prices starting from Rs.4.99 lakh.
Amaze is the Japanese major’s first diesel offering in India.
It is available in petrol version as well. While the petrol version will be available in a price range of Rs.4.99-7.50 lakh, the diesel car is priced between Rs.5.99 lakh and Rs.7.60 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
“ Amaze is our most strategic model in the Indian market, and has been developed with strong focus on Indian requirements,” Honda Motor Company Managing Officer Yoshiyuki Matsumoto told reporters here.
The new model will look to take on Swift Dzire, which is priced between Rs.4.92 lakh and Rs.6.74 lakh for the petrol option and between Rs.5.99 lakh and Rs.7.5 lakh for the diesel variant. The Amaze diesel option is powered by a 1.5 litre engine, and the company claims that it will give a mileage of 25.8 km per litre.
The petrol option has a 1.2 litre engine, and the manual transmission has a fuel economy of 18 km per litre, while the automatic one is claimed to have a mileage of 15.5 km.
The model is being manufactured at the company’s facility in Greater Noida, with localisation level of more than 90 per cent.
The entry-level sedan qualifies for the excise duty benefit, enjoyed by small cars in India. At present, any car with a petrol engine capacity under 1,200 cc or diesel engine under 1,500 cc, but length shorter than four metres, attracts an excise duty of 12 per cent.
