Honda will be showing us the fourth generation of the Honda Jazz/Fit 5-door hatchback at the Tokyo Motor Show 2019. The Honda Jazz has been a rather successful model in Malaysia, with over 100,000 sold in the country since 2003, most of which were locally-assembled at the Pegoh plant.
Most of the Jazz’s success can be attributed to its packaging. Its layout is unique in that it features a centrally-mounted fuel tank, which helps open up more usable interior space. For a B-segment hatchback, the Honda Jazz is exceptionally spacious and usable. But the Honda Jazz also enjoyed rather lax competition from other Japanese makes in Malaysia in the past few years. While the Myvi and Iriz fought over the majority share of Malaysian hatchback buyers, the Jazz only had the fend off the Mazda 2 in the upper tier of this segment.
But now the game has changed. The Jazz goes up against a locally-assembled Toyota Yaris, while Proton is also poised to introduce a similarly priced X50 crossover in 2020. So, while we’re definitely going to see a 4th generation Honda Jazz debut later this month, whether that car comes to Malaysia is another question altogether.
Honda Malaysia have been doing one thing consistently: they only launch locally-assembled models when they have a strategy to be no.1 in that segment. Will they instead lean on an RHD version of the Gienia/City Hatchback that was launched in China? There already seem to be a MyIPO application that indicate as much, but we shall have to wait and see how this all plays out.
What else is being shown by Honda at TMS 2019?
An updated Honda Freed compact MPV will be shown, as well as the JDM-specified Honda e (electric hatchback). Japan will also be seeing their new Accord for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show 2019.
