Jazzing Up the Jazz

Veeresh Malik 03 June 2015

The new version of Honda Jazz will attempt to ride on the City’s brand value

If there was one car which started the trend of beginning with a high price and then reducing it drastically, thus building up a reputation for itself, it had to be the Honda Jazz, currently waiting to be launched, again, in India. Pushed as a ‘premium’ product in the sub-four-metre hatchback range, the original Jazz had an engine similar to the Honda City—which made it good value for money as well as a star performer.

The newer version of the Honda Jazz is expected to come with the same engine as the Honda Brio and the Honda Amaze. Nothing wrong with the size, which is in the 1,200cc range for petrol-engine cars, but certainly it leaves a lot to say about the refinement and seamless delivery as well as fuel efficiency that the Honda City's engine is well known for.

So is the Honda Jazz going to be a hatchback version of the Honda City? Not likely; though it will attempt to ride on the City’s brand value. So, initially, we can expect a price which will be way above that of the Brio and probably higher than that of the Amaze as well. Once the dust settles, we can expect Honda to reduce prices. Thereby admirably leaving space for people who bought this ‘premium’ product to say ‘we told you so’ once again.

Capturing Road Rage

The last fortnight has been full of road-related issues: whether it is the controversy following the judgement in an accident case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan from over a dozen years ago, or the more recent episodes in Delhi of a bus-driver being killed by a biker egged on by his mother or that of an angry woman being hit by a policeman with a brick (new evidence has surfaced that the woman was also at fault). All these incidents of road rage bring out the pressing need to have some sort of digital recording equipment handy—be it a video camera, mobile phone or any other form of audio-video recording equipment.

A good dash-cam costs about Rs3,000 and can be installed in such a way that it can have not only a front view but also be swung around to either side or to get a rear view. Likewise, there are few digital cameras which do not have audio-video recording capacities—learn how to use them.

This may save your life someday. It may, or may not, stand legal scrutiny; it may or may not be evidence in a court of law; but it will help in more ways than one—as the episode of woman and the policeman throwing bricks at each other shows. And having experienced the power of just politely telling a policeman that the dash-cam is on, is more than enough for me to recommend this low-cost electronic product to everybody.

No specific brand name; but many varieties are available. Go for one. I have written on this before and am glad to note that taxi and auto-drivers in and around Delhi have increasingly got some fitted; now, it’s time for the rest of us too.

(Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love—writing. He is also involved in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves.)

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