Well, according to an interview of a local online media with Honda Indonesia Marketing Director, Mr. Jonfis Fandi that is.
The impromptu information was out in a yearly media gathering held in Jakarta. It is confirmed by the head honcho that the Freed is indeed coming to Indonesia in the 2nd trimester of 2009 (that’s middle of the year), and what’s more, it will be Freed’s debut outside of Japan… Wowza! This backwater country actually got an exclusive debut of THE most waited Honda in 2009! (at least in term of affordability… Hybrid this ain’t)
With the rumors Honda Indonesia is canceling bringing Freed to Indonesia, this is quite a news. Price wise, Honda Indonesia is touting that volatile foreign currency/local exchange rate make them unable to guesstimate the local price for the Freed. Final price will be announced near the actual car launch date. Whatever it is, the price might land between US$2300 to US$25000 considering local Honda City is priced at US$24000 to US$26000. It’s common to price 7 seater MPV below a sedan in some parts of Asia as sedan is considered more luxurious than an MPV.
All I can say, godspeed bringing this car back home Mr. Jonfis. We’ll be waiting with arms wide open… Although I’m keeping my SX4 Crossover.
Do you still not know the price of the car? My family have plan to buy family car this year. We prefer honda freed than other brand like avanza or apv.
There’s no word about it yet, but expect the Freed to be more expensive than the cars you mentioned.
It’s Official now,
will be launched on March 11,2009
the dimension is very small, will be crowded for 7 person onboard. nevertheless, it would be very attractive though.
check out the news please:
http://otomotif.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/03/05/05391666/Honda.Freed.Launching.11.Maret.ini
Thanks for the link Andi, it’s quite a revelation about the official unveiling of the car. It seems I mistaken “triwulan” with trimester rather than semester… So, second semester of 2009 means… Right now!
The 7 seater capacity should be okay, size wise the car is on par with Nissan Grand Livina, only taller and although the Freed is shorter than the Grand Livina, its wheelbase is actually longer. So theoretically, interior size should be similar.
Your Welcome, Michael.
I keep a very keen eye of the news from this new genre Honda car.
I’m very interested to buy one. wait for the price though.
the ground clearance is only 15cm.
Actually I already planned to purchase toyota rush this April, but the price has increased 2 times from IDR 169mill to 189mill. it seems overpriced.
Apart from fuel consumption and driving comfort, in respect to the road condition in Jakarta, higher ground clearance should be considered. Thus, regarding these three aspects, do you have any idea which one better between Nissan Grand Livina and Honda Freed? Thanks.
To be frank, I’ve never encountered a patch of road on our capital which can be considered hazardous enough to warrant high ground clearance. I’ve encountered some crazy tall speed bumps/polisi tidur, and pits, but still my old Jazz can plow through with gusto. A different case with my current car (SX4) though.
Between GL and Freed, it is still a tough choice. Theoretically speaking, the Freed has plus point on comfort, it has the longest wheelbase for its class at 2740mm, while GL has 2600mm, Avanza/Xenia has 2655mm, APV Arena has 2625mm and Luxio has 2650mm. Honda engineers just have more room to make a comfortable seating position. Also, Freed is tall, making the interior space quite roomy and the ceiling height (the psychological aspect of it) will gives the passenger a feeling of openness.
The ground clearance thing will be Freed’s downfall for some. Initially it came with 160mm of ground clearance, but the number is based using a 14″ rims, while I believe the car will come with a 15″ rims this side of SE Asia. So, it might have 170mm or so ground clearance. On a side note, JDM Toyota Alphard also only have 160mm of ground clearance. You can check it out here http://toyota.jp/alphard/spec/spec/index.html Don’t check it at Toyota Indonesia website, the info is dead wrong for the ground clearance (212mm?!?!?!?)
Fuel consumption wise, it’s still up in the air. If the Freed do come only in automatic, then it’s only fair to pit it against GL automatic variant. For that topic, it’s going to be Freed advantage because it has a fifth gear for its automatic box. Highway cruising will be more efficient than GL that’s for sure.
So, technically speaking, the Freed will score 2-1 against the GL. But it needs to be experienced by yourself. The Freed is emulating the experience of a premium people mover in a smaller package… Not just the “Alphard look” one car is famous for, but the whole shebang.