By: IOL Motoring Staff
Tokyo - Honda pulled the covers off its new compact SUV in full production guise at the Tokyo Motor Show on Wednesday.
The Japanese-market version will carry the Vezel nameplate when it goes on sale this December, but the version that the rest of the world gets will be renamed. European sales are only set to start in 2015, so keen South Africans should also bargain on that timeline.
The Vezel will provide Honda with a key contender in a booming mini-SUV market that recently welcomed new entrants like the Ford EcoSport, Renault Captur, Opel Mokka and Peugeot 2008. Let's not forget the quirky Nissan Juke that everybody's out to get.
Honda released little in the way of technical detail on its new SUV, which appears to be Jazz-based. What we do know is that the Japanese version will offer a choice between petrol and petrol-electric hybrid propulsion, both featuring a direct-inject 1.5-litre engine.
But has Honda hit the right design chord with this cheeky new crossover?