Honda’s new Small Mac Series platform, on which the new Fit/Jazz subcompact is built, will become the basis of a whole new subcompact vehicle series including SUVs and minivans.
The next new model called the Capa is due out in Japan later this year. Small Mac platform series annual production will eventually reach 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles a year, becoming Honda’s third-highest volume model line after the Civic and Accord.
For the Fit/Jazz, the new platform features a fuel tank mounted under the front seat protected by cross-members and floor framing which allows greater seating layout versatility.
The new model’s short nose and compact suspension also allows a low floor and a greater interior height than Honda’s larger Japanese-specification Odyssey minivan.
Honda originally planned to produce European versions of the Fit, badged the Jazz (a name also given to the original mid-1980s City in the United Kingdom), at its British plant in Swindon from later this year.
But the currency pressures caused by the high value of the pound against the euro led to the costlier Civic three-door hatchback and CRV SUV replacement being earmarked for UK export production (mainly to continental Europe and the U.S.) instead.
Now the Fit/Jazz will initially be produced only in Japan (on a flexible assembly track at the Suzuka Seisakusho plant that also builds the Civic) for domestic, European and Asian sales.
Honda has not ruled out overseas production later; this will probably be in its Thai and Malaysian plants from next year. There is also talk of UK production should the country adopt the euro.
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