Honda UK will finally start selling the redesigned Jazz (aka Fit) late this summer with dealers being told ‘September’, just-auto learned on the sidelines of the updated CR-V European media launch.
Although the third generation redesign was first launched in Japan – the model’s top market – in November 2013, and has since gone into production in Mexico for North America, the second generation car has remained in production in a number of locations.
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It’s still being made at Honda Motor Europe’s UK plant in Swindon and won’t be run out until about June. And, insiders said, it’s still selling well.
The replacement, however, will come from Japan, as the supply chain turns full circle, so to speak. In its European life, the Jazz came initially from Japan and then from a new, export-only plant in China (generation one). Generation two was switched to the UK plant.
Honda’s people said the delay on the third generation was due partly to a temporary slowdown in new model development programmes some years ago (since restored as the recent reveals of HR-V and NSX show) and “market prioritising” with the launches in Japan and US.
The name Jazz will continue as apparently, an insider revealed, ‘Fit’ has a rather unfortunate meaning in a Scandinavian country.
Dealers are said to be looking forward to the HR-V, which also arrives later this year, giving them a crack at the fast-growing B-segment SUV sector. It’s not the first time, though, as this revives a nameplate first sold here from the late 1990s.
“We were in the segment before it was invented,” quipped a Honda UK executive with extensive dealer liaison experience, noting, with satisfaction, the number of older HR-Vs which are still on the roads in the UK and Europe.
SMMT data shows that Honda UK finished the year with sales down 3.8% to 53,544 but new products, including a major refresh of the diesel CR-V powertrain offerings and an updated Civic line in March, including a new, sporty Type R variant, should bring a welcome boost this year. European sales dipped 4.9% to 133,268.
One huge change in 2014 was a boost in sales of cars on PCP (personal contract plans with a ‘balloon’ final payment or deposit roll-over) which have become hugely popular here in the UK in recent years. Honda started the year with such sales accounting for around 23% of volume and ended at around 90%. Insiders said dealers – once used to a cash-rich retiree clientele that had long been a key demographic of their sales – had finally cast off their reluctance to offer the PCP packages and had been rewarded with considerable success. Buyers can also roll in maintenance contracts to monthly payment plans which adds to the attraction.
