Kisruh recall Honda City di Indonesia sepertinya juga berdengung di telinga petinggi Honda Indonesia yang akhirnya mengeluarkan pernyataan resmi mengenai penarikan Honda City.

Silahkan download/unduh file PDF resmi mengenai penarikan Honda City di

http://rapidshare.com/files/345140345/Press_Release_JAZZ___CITY.pdf.html(192KB)

Kalimat-kalimat yang perlu dicermati adalah sebagai berikut:

<DAMPAK DI INDONESIA>

TIDAK ADA. Jazz yang diproduksi di Indonesia menggunakan komponen power window master switch yang diproduksi oleh Toyo Denso, yang memiliki desain yang berbeda dengan produksi OMRON. Sesuai dengan penjelasan di atas, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. dan PT Honda Prospect Motor (HPM) MEMASTIKAN bahwa tidak ada satu pun produk Honda Jazz di Indonesia yang terkena program recall. Selain Indonesia, beberapa negara seperti Jepang, Thailand dan

Australia juga dipastikan tidak melakukan recall untuk produk Honda Jazz di negaranya.

<PENYEBAB>Komponen Power Window Master Switch terkena air dalam jumlah yang banyak dan waktu yang lama. Hal ini memungkinkan terjadi hubungan listrik arus pendek.

Untuk pelaksanaan program ini, Jonfis Fandy Marketing & Aftersales Service Director PT HPM menjelaskan, “Konsumen yang mobilnya teridentifikasi tidak perlu kuatir dan dapat tetap menggunakan mobilnya seperti biasa. Mulai tanggal 1 Maret 2010 sampai dengan 30 September 2010, para pelanggan dapat datang ke bengkel resmi Honda atau kami hubungi untuk melakukan perbaikan secara cuma-cuma dengan menunjukkan bukti kepemilikan kendaraan yang sah.”

Jadi, meskipun fenomena recall Honda Fit/Jazz terjadi di luar negeri, hanya Honda City rakitan Thailand di Indonesia saja yang ditarik untuk diganti switch power windownya.

Sekadar catatan samping saja, menurut saya yang perlu diperhatikan disini juga adalah faktor kelalaian dari manusianya (human error). Hasil penelitian dari pihak Honda menunjukkan bila korsleting terjadi dalam jangka panjang, dan karena terkena air dengan debit yang tinggi. Hal ini cukup logis karena komponen listrik tidak dapat dibuat kedap air karena bagaimanapun juga alat tersebut harus dapat dibuka untuk diperbaiki, alhasil sudah pasti ada sela dimana cairan dapat masuk kedalamnya.

Honda just announced an overview of their display on the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, and what an overview it is. Like any all Japanese automaker in the show, hybrid and electric cars are making a strong showing… Too strong for my taste actually, but thank goodness Honda have some traditional gas burning ass kicking cars in the show as well.

Honda does bring out a slew of motorbikes, but for this entry I’m just going to cover the four wheel aspect of Honda TMS booth (I’m already ditching my lunch break to write this)… So why I’m writing a news that’s been reported to death by any online news media? Because I put in my usual witty comments and explanatory behind the news, so enjoy!

Strong Hybrid Front

Leading the charge on the hybrid front is the long waited CR-Z. Finally Honda unveils in the flesh, a near production ready CR-Z to the masses. It looks very much like the concept, albeit with toned down styling. Still though, it’s a striking model for a hybrid.

Here I am baby!

Honda dubs the car as the “fun hybrid” (actually, it’s me who dubbed it). It supposedly brings Honda “fun to drive” trait, offering driving responsiveness of a sport car to a hybrid… Honda 2007 showing of CR-Z mentions about the meaning of the term CR-Z… Compact Renaissance Zero… So is this car going to revolutionize the compact scene? It’s hard to imagine how. Honda explicitly mentions light weight on the car’s press release back in 2007, something that can be attributed to good power to weight ratio. However, with Honda most powerful compact hybrid engine producing only 115ps (Civic Hybrid)… It’s… Hard to say… Let’s just wait for its drivetrain info. Interior wise, it’s as ready as waiting the sun at 4 in the morning. You know it’s coming soon, and you know how bright the sun would be a couple hours down the road… For pictures of the interior, click the Temple of VTEC link down below.

Hot on the heels of hybrid cars, Honda unveils a 6 seater hybrid concept. Dubbed the Skydeck, the CR-Z front end look alikeness is uncanny, indicating that the car will share the same platform. Still a concept though, this car brings sensibility and load factor to a hybrid. The car features scissor front doors and below the chassis sliding door mechanism, but it will definitely be gone if the Skydeck hits the production. But seriously… Honda will definitely made this.

Call me CR-L for Long

On the electric side of anything four wheel, Honda isn’t making any ground breaking car like Nissan Leaf. Instead, Honda is bringing back the original 1986 Honda City concept, complete with a mini runabout like the legendary Motocompo. Dubbed the EV-N, this is Honda second full electric car after the EV+ that went on special lease in the United State back in 1997. The EV-N is a two door electric car that takes retro design cue to the extreme…. Extremely extreme. Now wait… Before you guys said “The car looks like an old Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper crashed together and the guy in the repair shop use too much sanding” The car is actually a homage to Honda very first compact back in the late 60’s, the N360. You can see its distinctive raised headlights and the boxy design. The original mini is more roundish than the N360.

Seriously, I want to bite this car, it’s just too cute

From the look of it, the EV-N is a Keii car with dimension similar to Toyota IQ. The rear seat seems useless for an adult, and when the front seat slides backward, there’s no legroom for the rear seats (just like the IQ). EV-N electric theme goes up to its roof where Honda installed a solar panel… I wonder if the panels is usable if at all…

Hello grandpa: The original Honda N360

The coolest thing of all is the addition of U3-X on the EV-N. Like the 1986 Honda City, the EV-N has a “mini bike” stowed on its left passenger door. Honda City own Motocompo was already a marvel in engineering, and the U3-X tops the Motocompo and bring the term mini bike to the next level. The U3-X, unveiled before Tokyo Motor Show (which I didn’t have time to write on the blog) was a marvel of engineering. Imagine segway, and now imagine a unicycle… Now what if Segway made love to a unicycle and had an offspring? You got the U3-X.

U3-X snug comfortably on the door

Like the segway, you tilt your body to move, whether it’s forward, backward, sideways… Whaaa? Sideways? Yes, sideways. Albeit it looks like the U3-X has only one wheel, it actually comprises of small diameter wheels making up a bigger wheel. When the person shifts their weight sideways, the small wheels turns towards that direction. When the person shifts their weight forward or backward, the small wheel stops and rolls around its bigger wheel. When the person wants to make a turn, all the wheels turn… All thanks to Asimo. Weird eh, how a bipedal robot contributes to a self balancing unicycle… Psych! That’s that… Asimo self balancing gyro technology is installed on the U3-X (and you call yourself a gadget website).

The U3-X and EV-N are both a comeback from 1986 Honda City. The concept is that you park your car in a public parking building and use the compact bike stowed in the car to reach your final destination.

Civic Euro Returns Home

On the fuel burning front, Honda brings back FN2 Civic Euro hatch back home to Japan, and not to mess around with Civic heritage, it’s bringing the Civic Euro Type R. It’s going to be a pretty interesting battle between the type Rs… The FN2 Euro Civic was built using the Fit/Jazz platform, meaning pedestrian level suspension (McPherson strut & torsion beam) and hangar size cabin. Suspension wise, the Euro Civic is no match for the FD2 Civic. Power wise… It’s going to be an embarrassment as the Euro Civic Type R only produces 201ps while the FD2 Civic produces 225ps at full throttle.

Still though, the FN2 Euro Civic was built not with performance in mind. It’s bringing sensibility into a performance oriented car. The Fit/Jazz platform means ULTRA seat, the amazing fold up/down mechanism of the rear passenger seating. Loading a tall or wide objects are a cinch for the Civic Euro. The engine is also tuned to deliver better midrange, rather than the high strung spine tingling limit of the FD Civic… Me? I’m choosing Euro Civic Type R…

Then we have the StepWGN… and no, there’s no vowel there after the “e”. StepWGN is Honda mid-high model of people mover above Freed and below the Elysion. It’s size rivals the Elysion, but with more utilitarian design and features. The model shown on the show will be the third generation of StepWGN ever since the car introduction in 1996. The car has gone a loooong way from its initial “commercial van” history. Well, it’s not a commercial van per se, but it looks like one, tall, dinky, and had an overly long rear overhang, the design looks forced… Maksa deh…

Looks a lot like Nissan Serena

StepWGN came with flat floor running from front to back, and the first car (ever I think) to have wood panel as a floor… Wood panel for God sakes! And a funky sunroof that runs the spine of the car’s roof from front to back (optional off course). The car truly is a fresh take on an MPV. However, the usual Honda move, the third generation StepWGN brings something better.

The third generation design though was a shocker to many. The second generation StepWGN was applauded for not looking like any MPV on Japanese road with its angular design which translated well to Honda Freed. The new StepWGN now look indistinguishable compared to Nissan Serena and/or Toyota Voxy/Noah. The boxy design is simplistic in nature like canned corned beef. It looks the same from the outside, it’s not until you brace yourself for change and try the new brand on the next shelf… Sigh… Still though, expect some surprises on the car.

There’s a third row seat there, can you find it?

The first pictures of the car show a disappearing third row seat… Completely inside the floor… It might be an old technique as USDM Honda Odyssey has it for ages, but it’s a good thing to implement on the StepWGN. The second picture that grabs my attention is the size of the car. The car length grew from 4640mm to 4690mm, a healthy 50mm. But what’s a 50mm increase right? Well… The interior space of the car grew to 3095mm from a measly 2775mm that’s 320mm increase in interior length, and that’s crazy… That’s Honda. If you find seating comfortably on the second generation StepWGN, this new third generation will make you feel like seating inside a house… Well, a small house… Okay, a studio apartment, don’t be so antsy…

So that’s that on the four wheel side. Honda also introduce a new bike, the CB1100, a retro take to the CB line. An electric scooter under the legendary Cub name, some power products and Honda walk assistant.

Source:

Honda global: Tokyo Motor Show Report

Temple of VTEC: Honda Overview Photos

Okay, so the new Honda City is out in Indonesia… Err… I wanted to pun about the new City is running around in the cities, but apparently it will not be the case for the longest time. As some has noticed (and taken it badly), the new City is priced at ridiculously-catastrophically-wallet-busting-high, towering more than 20% over its competitors, namely Toyota Vios, Suzuki SX4 Sedan (lovingly named Baleno locally), Chevrolet Kalos… And well, basically every small sedan out there.

The beard on fire joke maybe is overrated, but imagine this… A lot of people already pay a down payment for something that even doesn’t have a price! Now… Let’s think about it first…. Argh, just read through my silly writings. Witty comments in 3… 2… 1!

The new Honda City is officially priced starting from Rp. 239 million for manual version and as high as Rp. 260 million. Well, for the folks living stateside, the car costs a whopping US$20000 and topping US$23000 (current exchange rate) for the loaded version. Now why is everybody running around like they caught their beard on fire? Well, as most Asians, Indonesians are suckers for everything new (a.k.a. super early adopters)… That is, there are a lot of people who already pay the down payment for the new City even when they didn’t know the price… Now if that’s not a stereotype joke, I don’t know what is… Of course, much of Honda sales guys didn’t know about the price either as they really didn’t know even what the City would look like, so the silliness ensues.

People are targeting that even with Honda premium status, a new car will not be priced outside the “10% boundary” pricing wise against its competitors, or namely, the Vios here, as the reigning champion of small sedan. So, people expect the price at logically Rp. 210-220 million, as compared to Toyota Vios’s Rp. 201 million (fully equipped)… And you know what, the City is priced starting at 230 million. Still, it’s a little bit more or less on the target, but considering that the Rp. 201 million Vios is fully equipped, it’s starting to get hot in the competition, and in the people who pay for the down payment of the new City’s wallet.

People are accusing Honda Indonesia taking advantage of their “rising premium” status and jacking the price of the new City sky high. Well, perhaps those people are the one broken hearted as they couldn’t afford the new City, or just plainly uneducated… Bar none… I myself, is totally awestruck by the exponentially increased price… How? Why? But carefully thinking about it, it’s just too clear and easy actually, even my Honda crazier little nephew knows about it.

So why? Why indeed… Like my little nephew point to me, the new City looks like a totally new car… This is coming from a kid who said the last City and Baleno (Aerio Sedan) looked like a Jazz with ass and Aerio with ass… Really! He said that! A car with ass! Making sense of it all, the last generation City looks like the last generation Jazzz, with a trunk, a hatch with trunk, complete with gaudy rear end and questionable aerodynamics. Well, folks… BECAUSE IT IS! Last generation City took everything the Jazz/Fit is good for and added a trunk. The City’s front bonnet is sloped steep like the Jazz (from here on end, I will refer the Jazz to the Fit), making it look like, well, Jazz with less curve from the side profile… And with ass… I mean trunk. More over… The interior of the City looks exactly like Jazz! Once, I borrowed a friend’s City, as my prior car was the Jazz, I felt no difference at all between driving the old City and the old Jazz, and to put some insult… I almost rear end the car when backing up, because I swear, I thought I was driving a Jazz… You know, the car I had, has no ass… I mean trunk…

The original design for last generation Honda City… Short nose and long trunk…

Well, there’s no problem there in utility or cabin space. The last generation City is a haven to sit into, huge cabin space, tall, roomy, well, put every good spacious comments here and you have the last generation City. But all that goodness translates into something of an oddity. The tall cabin = tall car… A lanky design for a sedan… Why is it lanky again? Because the last generation City shares exactly the same A pillar from the last generation Jazz, the same tall A pillar that gives Jazz that small MPV looks… No wonder even a kid called it a Jazz with ass. Subjectively… The general public dish out on the last generation City styling, especially compared to the City 2 generation before (still heralded as the most beautiful City design).

So why the last generation City looked like a Jazz with ass? Well, this is called, platform sharing, the same as other Japanese automakers are famous for. The same as Civic is sharing its platform with CR-V, or Toyota Camry sharing its platform with Harrier/Lexus RX. However, it’s just too obvious and in ASEAN where the City is sold, sales are lackluster, because it just looks like a hatch with trunk. Honda even went the extra mile by (reportedly) making last generation City design refresh a costly one, changing the whole front side of the car.

From headlamp, bonnet, A pillar, body lines, door handles, it’s same ol same ol

But enough of that, now… Why is the new City costs literally an arm? Well, because my “Jazz with ass” nephew asked me… “is that the new Civic?” And you know what my reaction is? I TOTALLY LAUGHED!!! And gives a thumbs up to Honda design department, you’ve outdone yourself guys, the new City design is totally on the spot, it’s no longer a Jazz with ass, it’s now a proper small sedan devoid of clues from what car is derived upon. However things doesn’t bode well from pricing stand point… As you can see, platform sharing means sharing everything, from production to development cost. With the new City totally looks like a different car from the new Jazz, well, there’s bound to be something that incurs extra cost for the beloved H.

First of all, let’s take a look under the hood… Powering the car is the all new L15 engine, the freak 1.5L  120ps engine that debuted on the Jazz and just recently found its way on the new Honda Freed. Okay, let’s play count… That’s Jazz, 1, City, 2, Freed, 3… A grand total of 3 car that uses the same engine. Now compared with the old L15 engine that found its way on Jazz, Mobilio, Mobilio Spike, City, and Airwave, a complete line up of cars which warrants economy of scale. The new engine incurs new development cost, and also factory retooling costs for casting the new engine. To make matter more lively, Honda used an all new 5 speed automatic transmission complete with the black magic like grade logic control and turn shift (or whatever) technology… A 5 speed automatic transmission which has its competitions running dry (most of the competition still using “dumb” 4 speed automatic transmission, sans Toyota).

So under the hood, it’s a totally new experience. Compared to the same old VVT-I or the same old VVT of some cars (nudge*Toyota Yaris/Vios, Suzuki Aerio/Baleno/SX4/Swift).

Now, let’s take a look at the exterior side. Where the old City and Jazz shares almost everything, the new City and Jazz is different as night and day. Show me what part of the new City or Jazz (picture above) that shares any resemblance… I dare you… Now, show me what part of SX4 and Baleno that shares any resemblance… Okay, let’s not be cruel, but come on, SX4 and Baleno shares basically everything… Now my nephew even called Baleno the new Jazz with ass (as it is the same car with SX4 + trunk). Toyota does this with the new Yaris and Vios, but with better cladding and nicer retooling… You still can see similarities, but not as blatant as the new SX4 and its sedan version. Suzuki off course does it with reason, making the SX4 sedan (Baleno) as SX4 with trunk equals not much messing around in the factory floor, making economy of scale thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat much easier.

Not a single damn thing is similar between the two cars

Now what of the new City? It doesn’t resemble a Jazz in any nights, even after hard frat party. It just different. The new Jazz might still looks like a mini MPV, but the new City just looks like a regular old sedan. Just look at those A pillars people! Now tell me if Honda Jazz was used as the base design for the City… Where in the Jazz you have that side glass next to the sideview mirror, the City has no such thing. Even the mighty Toyota designs Yaris and Vios A pillar with strong similarity. As we know, A pillars define the base model of a car that is derived from. Case in point, the SX4 and SX4 sedan shares exactly the same A pillar, and look what my nephew called the car (hint: above). If A pillar is not a strong enough indication… Look at the body lines… The line that goes from the rear door handles slopes toward the front of the car on the Jazz, where as it’s dead straight on the City.

So what’s on the inside? Yaris and Vios shares that funky center dashboard, SX4 and Baleno shares that simple and mysterious dash… But the new City? Does it share anything with the new Jazz? Well… No and No. Where the Jazz dash looks like a funky new age, or in short, a cheap miniature dash of the Civic, the City’s dash looks surprisingly different. Unlike the driver oriented dash design of the new Jazz, where each knobs are placed right next to the steering column, the City control knobs are placed dead center on the dash. City’s silver accented center dash also differs with Jazz’s straight simple center dash design… …So? So!? So, new dashboard means another shot on the economy of scale knee cap. No way in hell Honda will able to streamline two different dashboard molds under one production roof.

Up: Jazz, down: City, there’s similarity, but alot of distinction that garners a separation… Phew, that’s a tough sentence

So people… When you look at the City’s new design (and price), do remember… IT IS NOT a Jazz/Fit with trunk anymore, it’s a totally new car, a car made of mating Honda global small compact platform with the hopes of Honda fans all around the world… Errr… Around the world? Yup dear readers, Honda made the City a global car now. Our small ASEAN-Japan only sedan is now a global car, no longer exclusive for the squinty eyes (that’s a joke for Asians), Honda is selling the City to Europe and anywhere Honda could spread its hefty development and production costs.
In the end, City’s high price tag is attributed to several factors…

1. New engine and transmission development cost.
2. New design and factory retooling cost.
3. The last… And this is just locally… High foreign currency exchange rate. The city is fully imported, and thus, with current global economy uncertainty, Honda shoot high currency exchange rate to protect its selling margin.

So… Is Honda to blame? All I see is that, Honda answers the critics by designing the City from the ground up. The high expense is just one outcome of that… Like the elders said, you can’t satisfy humans. If Honda wanted to cut costs, they could, and what will the city look like? A Jazz with ass again? Surely something that will involve another round of ridicules from the competitors and the general public. However, Honda does listens to its customers, and still they got a beating in the ass. To hell with nay sayers… If you can’t afford it, buy a tata Nano.

Edit: 23-12-2008 : I happened to stumble upon Paultan’s entry about Malaysian’s Honda City… Lo and behold! The car is actually more expensive there compared to Honda Indonesia City. Starting at 84980 Ringgit, and topping at 89980 Ringgit, it equates to 284 million Rupiah, much much more expensive than the 260 million Rupiah of Honda Indonesia most loaded City. Sure people are clamoring about Honda Thailand sells the City at about 220 million Rupiah, or 690 thousand Baht… But do you guys knows about local automotive taxes? Well… It’s expensive in some part of ASEANs…

Surely though, the fans and those who appreciates engineering will buy the City, although with slightly less smile, I’m sure. It’s when they experience the Honda quality and that particular Honda engineering, then, they will take noticed that every penny is worth it.

… Me? What I drive? I drive one of the car pictured above, and it’s not a Honda… I just have Hondamentalism.

Pictures are taken from Autoblog, Honda of Japan website and various sources