Vezel To Become Key Part Of Local Line Up: Honda Australia

Honda Australia has high hopes that the Vezel small SUV will fast become a core part of its local line-up when it arrives here in January 2015.

Honda Australia Director Stephen Collins told TMR at the local launch of the CR-V diesel that the Vezel - which will wear a different name for the Australian market - will likely be a strong seller.

“I would expect it would become a core model for us, I don't expect it would be a niche or a fringe model," Collins said.

“We haven’t set volumes at this point but we expect that the small SUV market is going to keep growing and we think in the next few years it will get as big as the medium SUV segment.”'

Last year Honda Australia sold just under 40,000 cars and expects to see similar volumes in 2014. The arrival of the all-new Jazz later in the year will give showroom traffic a boost, but Collins says it will be too late in the year to have a significant effect. 

Instead, 2015 is expected to be a big growth year for Honda Australia, as sales of the new Jazz gather steam and the Vezel arrives in showrooms.