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Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast

Eric · Oct 20, 2021 09:00 AM

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 01

The GK5-generation Honda Jazz will soon be discontinued in Malaysia, but demand for the B-segment hatchback is not slowing down at all.

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 02

Checks with several Honda dealers revealed that, although stock is almost depleted, enquiries for the model are still coming in. 

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Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 01

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?

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 02

Thailand's Honda City Hatchback pictured

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?

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 03

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.

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 04

While this formula may not work for most consumers in this region, it works very well for buyers in Europe, Japan, and China.

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 05

Another reason for the introduction of the Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia is for Honda Malaysia to streamline its manufacturing process.

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 06

Thailand's Honda City Hatchback pictured

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.

Malaysians are not waiting for City Hatchback; GK5 Honda Jazz is selling fast 07

Thailand's Honda City Hatchback pictured

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.

Eric

Editor

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.

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