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All-new 4th generation Honda Jazz/Fit unveiled!

The introduction of the Honda Jazz/Fit in mid-2001 in Japan was significant in that it was the beginning of a new era where consumers had different requirements. This was evident not only with the new model being picked as the Japan’s ‘Car of the Year‘ but also being the first model to beat the Toyota Corolla for No. 1 position in the domestic market. The Corolla had been No. 1 every year for decades but the Fit showed that consumer tastes had changed and Honda understood what they wanted for the new decade and century.

Now comes the fourth generation, launched today at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, and Honda says it has been developed to be the globally-accepted standard for compact cars suited to this new era. The development team pursued an ‘emotional value’ which cannot be expressed numerically and embodied four dimensions of comfort that enable this vehicle to be better able to support the daily lives of customers.

“We developed this vehicle not merely as a means of transportation for our customers. We strived for a vehicle which will become a part of our customers’ daily lives and make their daily lives more comfortable and enjoyable. This is a compact car for the new era, and this vehicle will set a new standard for Honda automobile development,” said Honda’s President & CEO, Takahiro Hachigo.

“What we strive to do with this all-new Fit is to establish the standard for compact cars suited to this new era. We believe this car will be able to become an industry standard for the new era only if it can win admiration in the Japanese market where fulfilling customer needs for compact cars is especially difficult compared to other parts of the world. Based on this belief, we squarely and sincerely faced our customers in Japan and perfected this all-new Fit as a global model that Honda will propose from Japan to the rest of the world,” he added.

Five versions
Although manufacturers typically offer various versions with different features at different price levels, Honda has made it a point with the new Jazz/Fit to emphasise that it is sold in 5 different versions (probably only for the domestic market) to allow customers to choose the version that is right for them depending on their lifestyle and life stage. The five versions, which have individual characteristics, are BASIC, HOME, NESS, CROSSTAR and LUXE. The differentiation is more than just features and equipment but also in exterior appearance.

Honda Fit Basic — *The Fit BASIC will be the entry-level version but still offer a high-quality design and occupant comfort. It features a simple design with a front face and seamless, flowing exterior form.*

Honda Fit Home — As the name suggests, this Fit HOME version is more for a young family . It offers a relaxing and carefully-designed space with high visual and tactile quality by coordinating colours and materials, including natural-looking fabric seats made with high-quality materials, a genuine leather-wrapped steering wheel and Prime Smooth soft padding.

Honda Fit Ness — The NESS version features vivid colour coordination and adopts water-repellent materials for the seat surfaces and soft padding on the instrument panel. It has a sporty and fashionable image which should appeal to customers who enjoy driving just like they enjoy fitness and sports.

Honda Fit Crosstar — The Fit CROSSTAR has a more distinctive exterior developed exclusively for the version as well as larger 16-inch aluminium wheels. As for the interior, water-repellent materials are used for seat surfaces and soft padding on the instrument panel. The aim is to project an enhanced image of a compact and yet tough vehicle.

Honda Fit Luxe — The Fit may be a compact hatchback but it can still be a mobile space where people can spend comfortable time. This LUXE version comes with standard genuine leather seats designed as an exclusive feature with high visual and tactile quality. For the exterior, platinum-style chrome plating and 16-inch aluminium wheels add to the high-quality feel.

Powertrains
The new Fit will go on sale in Japan in February next year and details of powertrains available have not been released. It is likely that the 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine will continue to be used and would be an improved unit. It is also expected that the 1-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder engine used for the Civic in some markets will be offered. This compact unit produces around 130 ps/200 Nm and would be highly suited to the model.

*1-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder engine (left) likely to be offered in new Fit, while the hybrid system is more advanced with the 2-motor system.*

The hybrid version of the all-new Fit will be the first Honda compact car equipped with the 2-motor hybrid system. The system features 3 drive modes designed to enhance efficiency while providing optimum on-road performance during a variety of conditions. Called e:HEV, this powertrain uses a 1.5-litre engine and is an extension of the application of its i-MMD (Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive) from large to mid-sized vehicles to small-sized vehicles as it is the core of Honda electrification technologies.

Interior
With the new Fit, Honda is introducing a new-generation body stabilizing seat that the company developed while envisioning application for its high-class sedan models. The planar support structure of the seat stabilizes the body and makes long driving less tiring and enables the user to enjoy the soft feeling of the seat.

The rear seats continue to feature seat arrangements as versatile as that of the previous generation Fit and realize seat comfort equivalent to high-class sedan models by adopting a larger and thicker seat pad which offers stress-free seating even for adult passengers. It’s not clear if the Ultra Seat feature is maintained but that was a clever idea which enhanced the versatility of the model by creating more storage space in the rear half of the cabin.

New safety features
The Fit features a front pillar with a cross-sectional structure that is different from previous generations but dissipation of impact energy in the event of a collision remains effective enough to protect the occupants from harm. While ensuring collision safety performance without compromise, a newly-designed front pillar offers exceptionally wide and superior frontal visibility compared to that of previous models. Moreover, the instrument panel features a flat-topped design which emphasizes horizontal and straight lines, and the windscreen wipers are positioned so low as to be barely visible from inside the cabin.

Depending on the market, the new Fit/Jazz will come with a front camera which covers a wide area in front of the vehicle as part of the Honda SENSING advanced safety and driver-assist system. By combining the front wide view camera and 8 sonar sensors mounted in the front and back of the car, existing Honda SENSING functions can be enhanced.

The new Fit will also be the first model equipped with the Honda CONNECT on-board communication module developed exclusively for Honda vehicles. Starting with this model, Honda will begin evolving Honda Total Care Premium which consists of three services: 1) remote control of some vehicle functions via smartphone; 2) emergency support service which connects the vehicle directly to a support centre in case of an emergency such as a traffic accident and enables prompt and proper responses; and 3) security ‘rush over’ service which dispatches a security guard when an abnormal situation occurring to the vehicle is detected. Of course, availability of Honda CONNECT will depend on the market and whether there is an infrastructure to support it.

Sales in Japan start in February next year and the Honda Malaysia plant in Melaka must already be well into production planning to start local assembly. However, the timing would have to be coordinated with other ASEAN markets, with Thailand (or Indonesia) usually being the first country to launch a new model.

2020 Nissan Formula E race car wears a ‘kimono’

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Car-sharing platform SOCAR Malaysia enhances and upgrades services as membership base grows

SOCAR Malaysia, the country’s biggest car-sharing platform, has introduced broader services, upgraded features and even a revamped customer service team. The company also announced the expansion of their door-to-door car delivery service in the Klang Valley, now branded ‘SOCAR2U’.

“Although we have seen the demand for car-sharing increase tremendously since we first started in January 2018 – testament that choosing Malaysia as the first overseas expansion for SOCAR was the right choice – we are celebrating this key milestone of having deployed 2,000 cars to underline our strength as a tech-enabled company. At SOCAR, we use data to tap into the preferences of our customers, rolling out car models at locations and price points that prove irresistible to our end-user. Ultimately, we want SOCAR to go beyond mobility by allowing users to really tap into their deepest desires by giving them the freedom to go to the places they want to,” said Leon Foong, CEO of SOCAR Malaysia.

New services to meet different demands
“We’ve looked at the demand and driving patterns of our SOCAR members and over time, we’ve rolled out new services such as ‘One-way to the Airport’ and our newly expanded SOCAR2U service where we deliver a car right to your doorstep. Driven by data, we are a stronger SOCAR, even more attuned to customer preferences. Over the next 12 months, we will be focusing on delivering a customer-first SOCAR experience from the moment you sign up to the very moment you return your car. One example of this is how the majority of our local driver licence approvals are now done within 2 minutes, as long as you enter the right details and expiry dates,” he added.

SOCAR2U, serving the Klang Valley, was created to meet growing demand from members. The service now covers the span from USJ21 to Bukit Bintang to Kota Damansara. Users can reserve their preferred car and have it delivered to their desired pick-up point, as well as have the car picked up from their preferred return location. The fee is RM10.00, as long as the location is within the service coverage area.

Membership base of 500,000
Mr. Foong revealed that SOCAR’s membership base has grown to 500,000 strong. Typical reservations are between 4 to 5 hours but some users also book a car for up to 30 days! From 100 SOCAR zones, the locations have grown tenfold to over 1,000 zones across the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor.

Currently, SOCAR Malaysia has a fleet of 2,000 vehicles comprising 26 different models. These include the Volkswagen Polo, Perodua Alza, BMW 330e and Mazda CX-5, with new cars added to the fleet almost every month.

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After Formula E, Extreme E will take electric cars into off-road competition

Following the success of the Formula E all-electric single-seater championship that began in 2014, plans are underway for another all-electric racing series and this one will be off-road. To be called ‘Extreme E’, testing began earlier this month at the Chateau de Lastours off-road proving grounds in the south of France.

How well the car and tyres are working together was one of the questions looked into during the test runs but the testers were also looking for any potential weaknesses in the electric race car’s physical and technical design, and not least in its motor. The tests lasted several days and were run by Continental tyres and Spark Racing Technology.

“The off-road conditions here are perfect and the entire team can’t wait to get out there and finally put the cars through their paces,” said Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, who had a very specific role in the initial test phase in this remote corner of southern France. The Swede comes from a family of successful racing drivers and is the only woman to have won a race in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.

At the proving ground, her role was to test Continental’s new high-performance tyres. “The tests will show how close we are to achieving our vision of an off-road electric racing series in some of the remotest locations in the world,” she said. “Overall, I’m pretty confident that the results will be positive.”

Locations around the planet
Continental became an Official Partner of the Extreme E off-road electric racing series in January 2019. The races will take place all over the world in locations – rainforest, desert, the freezing Arctic, high altitude and ocean islands – that have been chosen to raise awareness of the environmental issues facing humanity. Promoters Formula E Holdings Ltd. expects 10 teams to take part in the first season, which is scheduled to begin in December 2020. The first two locations have been confirmed as Greenland and Brazil.

Continental is already a Founding Partner of the series and will become a Premium Partner in 2021. The technology company will also be equipping all the vehicles involved in the races with tyres for the diverse and extremely demanding conditions that they will encounter.

Raising awareness of climate change
One of the main goals shared by Extreme E’s founders, partners and participants is to raise awareness among spectators of the challenges facing society as a whole, such as climate change, humankind’s interaction with the environment and the protection of threatened animal and plant species.

According to Continental’s Extreme E project leader, Sandra Roslan, “This new racing format is an opportunity for us to show that our high-performance tyres keep delivering even under extreme conditions. But Extreme E is also a radical new initiative for raising awareness of the challenges facing the modern world. It is this unconventional mix of adrenaline, entertainment and sustainability that makes this series so exciting. That is why we became Founding Partners and sponsors of the series in January and why we are really looking forward to the test phase.”

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Kia’s ‘Electric Mission’ gains insights into the electrification of personal transport in Europe

Following a 4,100-km drive through the world’s most developed electrified car markets, Kia Motors collected data that provides insights into the major trends for electrification in Europe. Referred to as the ‘Electric Mission’, the project was carried out in partnership with automotive research consultancy World Shopper.

The Electric Mission lasted 10 days, with a team of researchers visiting towns and cities across Northern Europe that are shaping the future of electric mobility. The team completed the journey in a Kia e-Niro all-electric crossover, passing through Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

During the road trip, World Shopper’s industry analysts met with more than a hundred decision-makers and stakeholders in the world of vehicle electrification, gathering data and first-hand insights for the Electric Mission report. The researchers also met with consumers, exploring attitudes towards electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, trends for electric vehicle adoption, and how they integrate electric vehicles into their daily lives.

The report suggests that consumers are still put off by the perception of high electric vehicle purchase costs, inadequate vehicle charging infrastructure, and long charging times. Crucially, the report also shows how drivers have successfully switched from petrol and diesel vehicles and incorporated electric vehicles into their lifestyle.

Home charger makes a difference
The report found that consumers can more easily make the transition from fossil fuels to electric power by installing a home charging point. Often subsidised, or offered with the purchase of the electric car, home chargers enable drivers to leave home every morning with a full battery – not a luxury enjoyed by drivers of conventional vehicles.

Owners of the e-Niro, for example, can set off every day with the maximum 455-km range when the battery pack is fully charged – a range significantly further than most drivers cover in a single day. The report found that the average single drive would only require around 4kW of the e-Niro’s 64 kWh battery capacity.

Adapting ‘refuelling’ habits
While the research from Kia and World Shopper highlighted a shift towards charging vehicles at home or at the office, many people have also fit electric vehicles into their lives by adapting their day-to-day charging habits. In Norway, for example, many drivers use vehicle recharging time to have something to eat, have a coffee, or catch up on their email.

The proliferation of fast chargers at service stops on major roads enables drivers to quickly recharge their vehicles sufficiently for a week of commuter driving in the space just 30 minutes. For example, charging a vehicle with a battery pack of 50kWh using a 175 kW fast charger, a driver can recover an 80% battery charge in between 15 and 30 minutes.

Sharing the experiences of others
Kia found during its research that one of the easiest ways for buyers of fossil fuel vehicles to overcome any concerns around electric vehicles was hearing about positive experiences of their friends and family. With vehicles such as the e-Niro making long-distance, zero-emissions transport possible, many drivers just need to hear about the added benefit of lower running costs, maintenance costs and lower vehicle taxes to be convinced. Word-of-mouth remains the number one reason why many people have switched to electric power in certain markets, and the longer driving range of the new generation of electric vehicles is now making them a truly viable choice for the majority of drivers.

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