Honda Mobilio MPV arrives at dealerships

The launch of the Honda Mobilio in India is just around the corner, what with the MPV already arriving at dealerships. Honda will launch the Mobilio next month as its first offering in the Indian MPV segment. The Mobilio is based on the Brio platform and benefits from an extensive parts and platform sharing exercise.

The Honda Mobilio is larger than the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga but smaller than the Toyota Innova, and a pricing in-between the Ertiga and Innova is likely for the new Honda MPV. Expect prices to start from the 6.2 lakh rupee mark for the base petrol variant of the MPV, and the 7.5 lakh rupee mark for the base diesel variant given Honda’s focus on heavily localizing all cars based on the Brio platform.

In India, the Mobilio will be sold with petrol and turbo diesel engines. The petrol engine will be borrowed from the Honda City sedan and is a 1.5 liter i-VTEC unit that outputs 117 Bhp and 146 Nm. The diesel engine is he 1.5 liter i-DTEC motor that does duty on the Amaze and the City cars, with rated outputs of 98.6 Bhp and 200 Nm.

Since the Mobilio sits above the Amaze, Honda could use a 6 speed manual gearbox on the MPV, a-la-City. Also, the CVT automatic gearbox from the City could be offered on an automatic variant of the Mobilio, if Honda decides to take the automatic route with the MPV. A 5 speed manual gearbox will be standard on the petrol powered model.

The Mobilio will be manufactured at Honda’s Greater Noida factory, situated in the National Capital Region (NCR). Honda plans to sell about 45,000 units of the 7 seater MPV each year. Like the Ertiga, the Mobilio will feature a monocoque body construction that is likely to give the MPV a car-like drive.

Spyshots courtesy Motorbeam