Honda's Jazz goes green 29 | 09 | 2010

HONDA WILL lift the wraps from its new Jazz hybrid at Paris tomorrow, but Scotcars can reveal the newcomer — which will enter Scottish Honda dealerships early next year — will have CO2 emissions of 104g/km and combined economy of 64.2mpg. It will also use many of the components which have already proved themselves in the Insight, including that car’s 1.3-litre petrol engine-based hybrid powertrain.

Like the Insight, the Jazz will be able to run on electric power alone in low-speed conditions and its engine/electric motor mix is mated to a CVT gearbox.

Externally there are design tweaks to identify the hybrid Jazz from its petrol stablemate, including revised headlights with a blue surround, clear tail-lights, a new front grille, different bumpers and flashes of chrome on the rear hatch. Inside there's a single-colour dashboard and blue-lit dials and instruments. For the first time in Europe, leather trim will also be offered for the first time on a Jazz.

Bootspace remains competitive, despite the addition of a battery pack and IMA control unit under the boot floor. In fact it's unchanged from the petrol models at 300 litres or 831 litres with the 'Magic Seats' folded flat.

In terms of emissions, the hybrid Jazz's CO2 figure is 21g/km lower than the current lowest-emitting 1.2 petrol version while economy is improved by 23% over the best-selling 1.4 ES model. The newcomer will be exempt from road tax in its first year and will cost £20 per year to tax thereafter.