The Honda WR-V is a latecomer into Indonesia’s fast growing budget SUV market. Up until last year, the A-segment SUV was dominated by the Toyota Raize / Daihatsu Rocky duo – Indonesian twins of our Perodua Ativa.

All that changed when the Honda WR-V was launched in November 2022 and deliveries started in December.

Within 3 months, Honda is now sitting on over 5,000 outstanding orders and as of February 2023, the Honda WR-V controls over 40 percent of Indonesia’s A-SUV segment.

Cumulative 2023 sales (as of February) have hit 2,936 units. This is more than the Toyota Raize (2,107 units) and Daihatsu Rocky (1,095 units).

Of course, if you were to combine the otherwise identical Daihatsu and Toyota, the Toyota Motor group is still ahead, thanks to the combined brands’ much wider dealer network’s reach.

As a recap, the Honda WR-V is powered by a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder naturally aspirated i-VTEC engine that makes 121 PS / 145 Nm, paired to a CVT. That’s more powerful than the Toyota Raize’s / Daihatsu Rocky’s 1.0-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder engine’s 98 PS / 140 Nm.

The Honda WR-V is available in Indonesia in 3 variants, all with the same engine and transmission.

The entry E variant starts from IDR 271.9 million (~RM 83k), reaching IDR 309.9 million (~RM 94k) for the RS variant with Honda Sensing.

For reference, the most expensive Raize / Rocky variant tops out at around IDR 283 million (~RM 86k), which implies that more Indonesians are willing to pay more for the WR-V.

The Honda WR-V has also been launched in Thailand and you can be certain that Malaysia will be next.

In Indonesia, the WR-V is priced lower than the Honda City (starts from IDR 373.9 million) and Honda City Hatchback (IDR 343.6 million).

However in Thailand, it is the reverse, where the WR-V starts from THB 799,00, which is higher than the City’s THB 579,500 and the City Hatchback’s THB 599,000. This is because the Thailand market WR-V is imported from Indonesia and thus doesn’t benefit from Eco Car Phase 2 tax incentives enjoyed by the locally produced City and City Sedan.

All else being equal, the A-segment WR-V should be priced lower than the B-segment City / City Hatchback but it’s difficult to predict if this can happen in Malaysia. There is of course the Perodua factor.

Can Honda Malaysia launch a new entry-level product that is cheaper than the City? It’s hard to tell. Perodua pays almost zero excise tax thanks to its 98 percent local content and high local R&D activities.

Looking at Honda Malaysia’s product line-up, there is still a RM 20,000 gap between the City / City Hatchback and the Honda HR-V, putting aside e:HEV RS variants.

Also read: Honda WR-V vs Toyota Raize (Perodua Ativa): Cast your votes