However, very few dealers have stock of the Honda Jazz. Without a Honda Jazz to sell, sales advisors are requesting customers to wait for the upcoming Honda City Hatchback instead – launch date of the model is still yet to be confirmed.
Why is the Honda Jazz still so popular?
Simple – the Honda Jazz’s fanbase is still very strong. Furthermore, with the advent of social media and overseas news, many Malaysian customers have already seen the Honda City Hatchback, and most of them don’t see it as a replacement for the venerable Honda Jazz.
As a result, they don’t mind settling with the older Honda Jazz, instead of waiting for the City Hatchback.
Why won't the next-gen Honda Jazz launch here?
The short answer is that the fourth-generation Honda Jazz is seen as too radical for consumers in emerging markets to accept. Never mind the fancy two-spoke steering wheel, even its very simplistic, clutter-free interior, and cutesy exterior design doesn’t jive with consumers over here.
While this formula may not work for most consumers in this region, it works very well for buyers in Europe, Japan, and China.
Another reason for the introduction of the Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia is for Honda Malaysia to streamline its manufacturing process.
While the outgoing GK5-generation Jazz and now-discontinued GM6-generation City shared similar hardware, commonality between the all-new GN-series City and City Hatchback will be even more – not only both cars share a same front-end, even the dashboard is identical for both.
Commonality of parts between the City and City Hatchback will drive cost down, as cost per unit will be even lower as individual parts’ volume go up. In fact, this move also simplifies parts purchasing, warehousing, and after-sales.
Started from the IT industry but somehow managed to find his way into the automotive industry. If he’s not gaming, he’s constantly tinkering with his daily/weekend car.