The Honda Brio: Here's a sneak preview

Although Honda is venturing into the Indian hatchback market much later than its contemporaries, it is compensating by bringing a class product to the shelves.

Brio, Honda's new hatchback, was first showcased at the New Delhi Auto Expo where it grabbed many eyeballs.

Pictures from the Bangkok Motor Show where the car has been displayed show a well designed car by Honda that resembles nothing anyone has ever seem in a Honda stable.

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The Brio is built on a new 2CV concept and design elements like a grill with a chrome strip, compact yet bold looks, upward sweeping lines, a forward inclined stance, et cetera give it a very futuristic feel and make it different from other hatches in the league.

The car has been designed keeping in mind Indian requirements and engineers at Honda have paid a lot of attention to details to make it a comfortable and practical hatchback for the Indian market.

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The car will be driven by a 1.2-litre Honda Jazz engine followed by a 1-litre motor in the future.

On the outside, Brio gets prominent headlamp pods set in black surrounds and maybe a bit of chrome too.

But it is the car's rear that catches the eye -- the all glass rear and low tail lights with a smoked-out effect are not available in such a combination elsewhere.

The car is 3.6 meters in length and with the amount of work that has been put into its designing it promises to be fun in the drive and handling department.

And after the Honda Jazz's driving experience the benchmark is quite high.

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The displayed version of the car has very upmarket features that are unique to the Brio.

The first thing that strikes you when you look at the dash is a missing central console.

The instrument panel, music system and all rest has been aligned straight. The use of chrome and beige lends the interiors a character of their own.

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Other small ergonomic features like cup-holders and compartments are also present in places like the bottom of the central console and door pockets.

The concept model had a double DIN music system, a driver airbag and fixed head restraints for front seats.

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But the price is a sensitive and influencing factor in the Indian hatchback market.

Thus Brio is likely to be priced around Rs 4.5 lakh (Rs 450,000) and will hit Indian showrooms sometime around September next year.

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