It was just a few days ago that the pictures of all new 2014 Honda Jazz/Fit were revealed which will mark Jazz’s re entry into the Indian market. Now this time, we have information regarding a Honda hybrid and the technology going into it. This soon to be released car is the Honda Fit/Jazz Hybrid and the company claims that it has received an astounding mileage of 36.4 km/liter by this vehicle. This is the highest for any Hybrid car in Japan. Honda Jazz Hybrid is expected to be on sale in the home country in September this year.
Honda Jazz also goes by the name of Honda Fit. In American Chinese and Japanese markets it is sold as Honda Fit while in Australian, African, European, Middle Eastern and some Asian markets it is sold as Honda Jazz. Just the name differs, it is the same car. Honda had launched Jazz in the year 2001and since then 2 generations of this car have entered the market. The present day Jazz is the 2nd gen model. The car has always been great and sold more than 3.5 million units until 2010 globally. But it did not see much success in the Indian market. Its price tag starting with Rs 6 lacs for the base model did not go well with the Indian customers. Honda had to discontinue the car in India. Things might change with the 2014 Jazz though.
Talking about this new Hybrid, the car will be using the Sport Hybrid i DCD (Intelligent Dual Clutch drive) for the first time. It will also be using compact light weight 1 motor hybrid system designed by Honda for small sized cars. The Sport Hybrid i DCD is the latest powertrain technology developed by Honda. It is also called as the Earth Dream Technology that offers excellent fuel economy along with great driving experience.
The Hybrid is using a new Atkinson cycle’s ( a high expansion ratio cycle) in-line 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine. This talked about Sport Hybrid i DCD offers a 7 speed DCT 4 system that has an in built high power motor. It also has an Intelligent power unit (IPU) coupled with a lithium ion battery. In addition to this the hybrid also gets an “Electric Servo Brake System” which increases the engines ability to regenerate electricity. The car also has a completely electronic compressor which decreases the engine load. All this working together with Sport Hybrid i DCD, has improved the fuel economy of this Honda Jazz/Fit hybrid by more than 35% as compared to its present IMA hybrid system.
This new hybrid offers 3 driving modes to its drivers. In the first mode called the EV Drive Mode, the car runs entirely on electricity without using its engine. Although no range is mentioned but Honda expects that a final speed of 40 km/hour can be achieved in this mode. Next we have the Hybrid Drive Mode which uses the engine as well as the electric motor. In the third mode which is the Engine Drive Mode, the car entirely uses its engine and not the electric motor. The Sport Hybrid i DCD system can change the driving modes automatically by disengaging or engaging the electric motor and engine.
Although Honda will launch the 2014 model of the standard Jazz in India, there are very small chances that this Hybrid will make it here. The 2014 model of Jazz will be manufactured locally at the Tapakura plant to keep the price tag low this time. Since it a sub 4 meter car, it will also benefit from the lower excise duties.
