Yes, I’m in the process of comparing specs for the Freed and its competitors. In fact, there’s work (marketing) related entry and Freed paper comparison entry… Well, might do both since this is Saturday and work is few and between… I can squeeze some free time.

About the City price… Sales are actually picking up according to friends on Honda dealerships. The truth of the matter is, Honda have this “zero inventory” concept, whereby they don’t actually keep fleets of cars on some Sunter garage (oops…) like other principals, they only keep some. Therefore, Honda Indonesia is prone to volatile price changes as they can’t protect prices on stocked products… Because they simply don’t have that many lying around like it was a fleet of taxis (double oops…). Now with principals raising car prices left and right because they have to replenish their stock, people actually realize, the City is not actually overpriced by much… Thus, the buying ensues. For Rp. 270 Million… The City offers superb automatic transmission with 5 gears, 120ps engine, comfortable rear seat, utility-utility-utility, and a look to die for… Those points are valid only to the City.

That “why bother give the people better product” company… I heard personally from an ex worker there, how the factory workers have target to reduce Cost of Goods yearly while adding visual “upgrades” so the market think they are paying more for something more. Well… Who could blame that company… Remember, the customer shapes the market only if relevant information and knowledge are provided… Without… Let’s just say capitalism and corporation way of lateral thinking gets the better of us.

@Suwito,

There’s no telling how much the Freed will be priced. But personally I expect the price will start at Rp 200 Million and upwards.

A nice blog u hv here.

As u well know, Indo market for 1.5 cramped with all kind of players. Fm ‘real van’ look such as Suzuki APV, Daihatsu Luxio to small MPV Toyo Avanza or Nissan Livina. Some even compare it to Innova with a bigger cc.

Personally I give Two Thumbs Up to Honda. They known to give their first class products to sell in Indo, the same they sell it in Europe/US/Japan (though optional can be differ, the basic platform still the same – though).

Unlike their main rival ‘the no 1 car seller’ u know which… it seems they prioritize money first with their slogan “If we can sell the 02nd grade car and selling well, why bother give Indo market the good car….” At least it’s my opinion.

If u may enlighten me, my concern is with Freed is coming fm the same platform of Jazz. The challenge is Freed fully loaded with 7 adults (yes, u can depend in Indo we wont waste empty space, ever..) and considering the car having same ground clearance with Jazz and next task is having a battle with our/Indo roads notorious with potholes waiting to suck yr car deep into their holes.

And it will be nice if u can compare it with the closest rival, Nissan Livina in yr next paper.

And if any HPM guys reading this blog, it will be good if u put a price of Freed WISELY. Sure thing u dont want it end up just like New City, a good car with so damn expensive price. Hell, to be frank, given a choice, a sane people will go to Altis/Civic rather than new city.

I’m sorry, I don’t have any insider information regarding the Freed. But I think we can predict the price fairly.

Honda Fit RS, or our local Jazz RS is actually much more expensive in Japan than here. In Japan, the 5MT Fit is priced at around 1.8 Million Yen or roughly Rp. 217 Million, where the 5MT Fit here only costs Rp. 203 Million… Thanks to it being locally assembled. Oh, and everything is given equal, dual airbag, abs+ebd+ba, etc etc.

Now… The Freed would also be locally assembled, so given the same specification and price, the Freed in Japan starts at 1.7 Million Yen, thus if its locally assembled, expect the Freed to be priced starting at Rp. 200 Million.

… And no… The Freed starts at Rp. 178 Million in Japan is totally wrong. With today IDR Vs JPY, it’s Rp. 122.05 for 1 Yen, not Rp. 100 for 1 Yen (that’s 4 months ago… Perhaps the mailing list guys aren’t updated with current economy crisis).

You can check the official price here http://www.honda.co.jp/FREED/lineup/index.html and convert the forex here http://www.xe.com/ucc/