Honda India studying the Indian market for a seven-seat MPV

Officials at Honda Cars India are having a busy week launching the Honda Amaze in various cities.

Today, the Amaze was launched in Chennai and we got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president - marketing and sales at Honda. We walked away with some new information.

Taking to the media about future products, Mr. Sen stated, "There is a seven seat MPV. We are studying the market for it."

We all know that Honda is working on a Brio based MPV which will first debut in Indonesia next year. The proposed MPV will be the second derivative of the Brio platform after the Amaze. A new factory in West Java, currently under construction, will roll out this model for the local and neighboring market needs.

Mr. Sen added that the 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel engine which debuted in the Amaze will not go into any of the current products, but it will feature in Honda's future cars. He also added that the next gen Jazz, which is yet to be unveiled, will enter India in 2014. The 1.5-liter diesel engine is almost certainly featuring on this future product as well.

We also learned that the Honda Amaze has an impressive localization level of 90%. The production plant at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, as well as the press shop and powertrain units in Tapukara, Rajasthan are working at their full capacity to ensure speedy delivery of the vehicle.

With the Amaze, Honda is looking to steal a big chunk of the pie from the Maruti Swift Dzire. The Brio MPV will be assigned to do the same to the Maruti Ertiga.