In two weeks Honda WRV booking crosses 4500: CEO

The bookings of the new W-RV began on  March 1. The W-RV is Honda's first model to be developed by Honda R&D India along with R&D Japan.

“The fast evolving Indian market has shown strong demand for compact vehicles that are stylish, comfortable and have premium features,” said Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd.

Talking about how the recent demonetisation had affected the sales of the company, the CEO said: “Due to demonetisation in November, we had a bit tough phase. There was a substantial drop in footfalls in Honda showrooms. It was by 30% across the country which had resulted in sales getting affected.”

"This fiscal year we are expecting a stable economic growth.  Post demonetisation the fall in interest rates has helped us boost sales,” added Ueno.

The W-RV, which was earlier showcased at the Brazil Auto Show, is built on the same platform as the Honda Jazz, the vehicle shares some similar components. The W-RV is taller, wider, longer than the Jazz and it is much more spacious with better ground clearance.

The WR-V is available in two variants, the 1.2 Litre petrol and a 1.5 Litre diesel engine.  The 1.2-litre petrol is same that of Jazz, which produces 89 bhp of power and has a five-speed manual transmission and will offer 17.5 kmpl mileages.

The six-speed manual 1.5-litre diesel engine produces 99 bhp of power will offer a mileage of 25.5 km every litre. The company has no plans of an automatic option yet.

The exterior of the new crossover has a bold sporty look with LED DRLs on the upswept headlamps. The WRV has a list of features which are quite similar to that of the Honda City 2017. It has standard ABS and airbags on all variants. The top VX trim gets a sunroof and also the new 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system.

The Petrol S MT variant has been priced at Rs. 8.04 lakhs (ex showroom Kolkata) and the VX MT at Rs. 9.31 lakhs (ex showroom Kolkata). Whereas, the Diesel S MT variant has been priced at Rs. 9.11 lakhs (ex showroom Kolkata)  and the top variant Diesel VX MT has been priced at Rs. 10.35 lakhs.

The WR-V comes in six exterior colours. Honda is also offering a three-year unlimited kilometers warranty which can be extended to five years.

Thought there were media reports that said that Honda will be exporting the new W-RV to Brazil, the company has turned down all such claims.

According to Honda Cars India Senior Vice-President (marketing and sales) Janeshwar Sen the company has its own R&D team in South America which is developing its own variant, the company has no plans to export the new W-RV to any other country.

(Reporting by Adit Majumder, Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)