Honda Brio facelift coming soon; spotted at dealership

After a long time, the Honda Brio is back in the news; and this time, its facelifted version has been spotted at a dealership. Rumours about its launch this year in India gained strength when it was first showcased at the 2016 Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS), and with the current snapping, the launch claim seems to concretise. 

As expected, the upcoming Brio looks identical to its sedan sibling, the Amaze. That said, it gets a redesigned bumper with separate housing for fog lamps, unlike the current one, which has a single black slab having fog lamp housing and air dam inlets. The new front grille has grown on either side and meets the headlamps. It swaps the thick chrome slat holding Honda’s insignia in the centre with black ones. There’s a slight chrome lining at the bottom of the grille. The rear remains unchanged.

The interiors of the Brio have been spruced up with a new dashboard layout, steering-mounted controls, 2-DIN infotainment system, and the company’s new Honda Connect mobile services. It boasts of an all-black cabin theme and bigger instrument cluster dials, which makes the information easy to read. What the car misses out on is the push start/stop option which, we feel, the Japanese automaker should have introduced in the facelift. 

As far as the mechanicals are concerned, the new Brio is likely to carry forward the same engine as seen in the outgoing model. However, Honda might tweak it to get better power figures. Presently, a 1.2-litre petrol mill – which pumps out top power of 88PS and 109Nm of max torque – linked to a five-speed manual/automatic option is doing the duty. 

Honda’s most cost-effective offering in the Indian market hasn’t been doing too well for some months now, and it badly needed an update. Let’s see whether the Brio facelift turns the tables for the Japanese automaker.