Honda has officially shown off its new hybrid vehicle, the Jade Hybrid, only recently. The car will seat six passengers and the Japanese automaker is unveiling it in its home country, Japan. Sales for this Japanese vehicle model in particular will supposedly kick off in February 2015. This is the first time Honda is offering the aforementioned hybrid vehicle model in Japan. Before this, it was only available in the Chinese market. That had been the case ever since the year 2013.
The Jade Hybrid from Honda will have a 2+2+2 seating configuration. This is unlike the hybrid vehicle variant that the Japanese automaker had always been selling in China before. For the Chinese market, Honda would usually give a 5-seater variant of the model.
Speaking of the Honda Jade Hybrid targeted to the Japanese customers, the vehicle will be backed by the Japanese company’s i-DCD Sport Hybrid engine configuration. This includes a 1.5L engine with direct injection feature and an electric motor. In this case, the total power produced achieves 29.5 hp and the torque produced is 160 Nm. The engine will also be paired with a lithium-ion battery. In addition to that, Honda will also equip the Japanese version of the vehicle with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission (DCT). As a comparison, the Chinese version comes with a 1.8L i-VTEC engine.
As reported by the Carscoops, another aspect that is worth mentioning in regards to this latest hybrid vehicle from the Japanese automaker is that the Honda Jade Hybrid has a host of advanced safety measures available. In order to ensure the safety of the driver and passengers alike, the car has been well equipped with stuffs like the Lane Keeping Assist, Road Departure Mitigation, Adaptive Cruise Control system featuring Low-Speed Follow function and also Collision Mitigation Braking, among others.
