Honda Jazz Hybrid / Honda Fit Hybrid revealed

The Honda Jazz Hybrid will debut at the Paris Motor Show

Despite not really believing that Hybrid cars are anything other than a stop-gap (if they’re any use at all in small cars) Honda is pushing forward with its hybrid range by dropping the hybrid bits from the Insight in to the Jazz to make the Honda Jazz Hybrid (in the Americas, China and Japan read that as Honda Fit Hybrid).

The Honda Jazz Hybrid – which will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show in just over a month – will be the first B-Segment hybrid to hit the market (supermini in English), and its smaller size may help the Insight’s hybrid bits be a bit more fun. But don’t hold your breath.

Honda are titivating the Jazz a tad to make it stand out from its ICE sibling. The Jazz is getting revised headlights with a blue surround, clear lights out back, new bumpers and a bit of extra chrome at the rear. You can also opt for a new colour (go on, guess) – Lime Green metallic.

The inside gets a couple of tweaks with a darker, single colour dash with blue lights and dials. Honda are also offering leather trim for the first time in the Jazz hybrid. Surely they’d have had a bigger take-up if they’d offered trim made from recycled hair shirts or ‘Faux’ leather? Killing cows to garnish a car interior somehow doesn’t fit with our concept of fluffy-bunny loving hybrid buyers.

Honda hasn’t managed to give us any economy or CO2 figures for the jazz Hybrid yet, although they do say they expect them to be in line with the Insight. That would mean just over 60mpg and CO2 emissions around 105g/km. Which rather begs the question – Why bother with a hybrid?

The similarly sized Ford Fiesta has a very good Econetic version. That manages 98g/km CO2 and 76mpg. It will also manage decent economy outside the urban environment – unlike hybrids – and it’s not lumbered with a rubber band CVT ‘box.

Still, this is about keeping up with Toyota. It has nothing to do with being ‘Cleaner’.

By Cars UK