Honda WR-V Sales Cross 16,000 Mark; Company to Ramp Up Production

Honda WR-V, the latest crossover from the Japanese carmaker has recently crossed 16,000 sales in India. Launched in mid-March 2017, it has been about four months since the car went on sale in India and the company has already received over 23,000 bookings. Apparently, Honda Cars India wasn't ready for such a huge response, which is why the limited production capacity for the WR-V has resulted in a waiting period of up to 2 months on certain variants. In order to meet the growing demand, the company has now decided to ramp up the production of the Honda WR-V crossover to about 5,000 units a month.

Currently, the company produces about 3,400 units of the Honda WR-V and by ramping up the production the company plans to cut the waiting period for the model before the festival season arrives. Last month the company sold over 4200 units of the WR-V which was its personal best yet. Furthermore, with the implementation of the new GST rates, the ex-showroom price of the Honda WR-V has gone down by almost Rs. 10,000 and now the prices start from Rs. 7.66 lakh to Rs. 9.91 lakh.

Based on the same platform as the Honda Jazz premium hatchback, the WR-V is in a lot of ways the ideal crossover for the average Indian buyer. The car offers decent performance, class-leading mileage and a well-spaced cabin with all the necessary creature comforts and a lot more that we have spoken about in our review. The Honda WR-V comes powered by the company's tried and tested 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol and a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine. The petrol motor makes 89 bhp and 110 Nm of torque, while the oil burner develops 99 bhp and 200Nm of torque. The petrol trim also returns a decent mileage of 17.5 kmpl, while the diesel offers a best-in-class 25.5 kmpl.

On the features front, the Honda WR-V comes with - a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with optional Wi-Fi for internet support, cruise control, engine start-stop button, and a multifunctional steering wheel along with a segment-first electric sunroof. It also gets some class-leading safety features like ABS with EBD and Dual airbags will come as part of standard equipment.

The car is manufactured at the company Tapukara plant in Rajasthan and it competes with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport and other crossovers in the market like the Hyundai i20 Active and Fiat Avventura.