One of the UK’s most versatile superminis of recent years is the Honda Jazz (Fit). With a 60/40 split rear bench seat that folds flat vertically as well as horizontally, buyers loved it. Despite being almost seven years old, it’s still selling more than 25,000 units a year in Britain.
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The all-new model was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show, and the good news is the cabin is even smarter than before. The seats still collapse in the same practical way, but there’s been real innovation in the boot. The cargo floor lifts to reveal a massive storage space beneath, then cleverly folds to create a storage net ideal for holding fragile items.
Kouhei Hitomi is chief engineer and project manager for the Jazz, and explained: “The first generation car was appreciated by everyone for the volume of the boot space, but it was just a space. The car was very good at having many seat configurations, so we wanted to incorporate some of those ideas into the boot of the new model.”
And he revealed the net area was a late addition to the package.
“It was originally a solid board, but we found things fell off when the car moved forward. So our solution was to turn it into a net. If you were shopping you could put your eggs in it, but it has a 10kg weight limit so you could put in much more,” he said.
The car goes on sale in Britain at the end of next year.
See also: JAPAN/UK: Honda not hurrying new Jazz to Europe
JAPAN: Honda considers sub-B for Europe
