Twenty-five years on from its debut, the ASEAN-market Honda City has finally gotten a hatchback variant. The five-door model replaces the evergreen Jazz in the region as the latter becomes more sophisticated (and thus more expensive) in its fourth generation. Building the hatch model off the sedan also allows Honda to offer a sportier-looking rival to the ASEAN Toyota Yaris, itself based on the Vios.
As far as hatchback conversions go, this is as straightforward as they come, but there are still some questions. Can the City Hatchback fill a Jazz-sized hole in buyers’ hearts, and are there more changes from the sedan beyond the deletion of a separate boot? We speak to large project leader Rei Sakamoto (who, like the e:HEV RS variant’s LPL Satoru Azumi, also had a hand in developing the S660 kei roadster) as well as his translator, Honda Malaysia executive coordinator Yujiro Sugino.
Question: What is the reasoning behind the City Hatchback replacing the Jazz in the region, and is there a concern customers will miss the practicality and brand recognition of the Jazz?
Yujiro Sugino: In the Asian and Oceania region, we have a well-built brand with the City, so [we are] cultivating the brand’s legacy. The development was designed to incorporate both sedan and hatchback in order to maximise efficiency and to build both sedan and hatchback variants based on the same platform. So it was a regional decision.
Keyword: Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia – we ask LPL Rei Sakamoto on why not Jazz, no turbo engine and more