Honda Brio


The Honda Brio is an automobile nameplate used by Honda mainly for their city car/subcompact car models that sold in Indonesia, the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam. It was introduced in 2011 and since then became the smallest car in Honda's global line-up.

Etymology

The name Brio means vivacity or verve in Italian. In Indonesia, Brio has an additional Indonesia-inspired name for the country's LCGC program. The name Satya is used as a prefix.

First generation (DD1/2; 2011)

Honda launched the Brio in 2011 as a hatchback slotted in a class below the Fit/Jazz. The car was specifically designed for emerging markets such as Thailand and India, two countries where the Brio was initially manufactured. The car was previewed as the New Small Concept. The concept car was first shown at the 2010 Thailand International Motor Expo.

Markets

Thailand

In Thailand, the Brio was launched on 17 March 2011 as a response to a government-endorsed eco car program. It was initially available in S trim with manual transmission and V trim with either manual transmission or CVT. Both S and V versions are powered by an i-VTEC four-cylinder 1.2 L SOHC block, offering 90 hp at 6,000 rpm and 110 Nm at 4,800 rpm; the engine can utilise E20 fuel, and offers a claimed fuel economy of 20 km per liter. However, Honda Thailand also produced the Brio with a 1.3 L engine for export markets. After the car was facelifted in 2016, the manual transmission was discontinued, leaving only the V trim with CVT.
At the launch, Honda expected to sell 40,000 Brios annually in the Thai market. However, throughout its life Honda only managed to sell less around 32,000 Brio hatchbacks in the country. As of July 2020, both Brio hatchback and Brio Amaze sedan is still available in Thailand.

India

In India, the Brio was assembled by the company's subsidiary, Honda Cars India Ltd, at its production facilities in Greater Noida. Over 80% of its parts were sourced from Indian suppliers. The Rajasthan factory also exports Brio parts to Thailand. The Brio in India was offered in V, VX and VX BL trims.
Following consistently depleting sales of Brio with only 2 units of Brio sold in January 2019, effective February 2019 Honda Cars India Limited has eliminated Brio from their product line in India. While Brio is discontinued, now the Amaze becomes the entry level offering from Honda Cars India Limited for the Indian market.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the Brio was launched on 2 August 2012. It was initially built in and imported from Thailand. The imported Brio used a L13Z1 i-VTEC engine with an output of 100 PS instead of L12B i-VTEC one seen in Thai and Indian market.
Honda Prospect Motor started the production of Brio in Indonesia since August 2013 to fulfill the local demand and to certify the Brio under a government-sponsored Low Cost Green Car program. However, only the lower trims were qualified as an LCGC due to price limits imposed by the government. The LCGC-qualified variants was given the "Satya" prefix to comply with the LCGC regulations.
The main change was the engine which was swapped to the 1.2 L L12B unit to comply with LCGC regulations. However, the automatic variant of the 1.2 L Brio was allegedly failed to qualify the LCGC regulations which require a fuel consumption of 20 km per liter under certain specific conditions. As the result, all Satya variants were initially only available with a manual transmission. To fulfill the demand for automatic variant, Honda sold S and E automatic variants without Satya badge which made it liable for an extra luxury goods tax.
Since September 2013, the Brio was offered in 6 trim levels: Satya A, Satya S, Satya E, S and E, which was equipped with a 1.2 L engine, and Sports, which was imported from Thailand and available with a 1.3 L engine. The Sports trim was available in either manual or automatic transmission, but Honda stopped importing the Sports variant since December 2013.
In 2015, Honda Brio Satya was the third best selling LCGC.

Philippines

The Brio was launched in the Philippines at the Philippine International Motor Show in September 2014. As of July 2020, Brio Amaze sedan is still available in Philippines, while Brio hatchback was replaced by second generation in 2019.

South Africa

The Brio was launched in South Africa in December 2012.

2016 facelift

The Indonesian market Brio received its facelift on 7 April 2016 during the 24th Indonesia International Motor Show. This facelift includes a new front fascia, taillamps, dashboard design, and also introduced the RS trim which replaced Sports as the top-of-the-line trim. The facelifted Brio also introduced the continuously variable transmission replacing the 5-speed automatic transmission, which made the Brio with automatic transmission to qualify under the LCGC program. The facelifted Brio was also launched in Thailand in May 2016 and in India on 4 October 2016. Sales of the facelifted Brio in Indonesia began on 2 June 2016.
The facelifted Indonesian market Brio was available in three trim levels, which were powered by a 1.2 L engine. The trim levels consist of Satya S, Satya E and RS. The Satya S trim was only available with a manual transmission, while the Satya E and RS trims were available with either manual transmission or CVT. As of May 2016, the Thai market Brio is only available in V trim with CVT.

Specifications

The Brio is powered by either a four-cylinder, L12B i-VTEC gasoline engine delivering or L13Z1 i-VTEC delivering for the Indonesian market until 2016. It is available with either a 5-speed manual, 5-speed automatic or a continuously variable transmission. The car is certified to deliver a combined mileage of and with manual and automatic transmission respectively on the Indian cycle. For the Thai market, the 1.2 L engine can utilise E20 fuel.

Safety

Safety equipment includes dual front airbags, anti-lock braking system, electronic brakeforce distribution and front pretensioner seat belts. The driver's side airbag feature multi-stage inflation. The front body is designed to absorb impact energy for better pedestrian protection.
The cars's front wheels have disc brakes and the rear wheels have drum type brakes. The progressive braking prevents sudden jerks.

Gallery

Second generation (DD1; 2018)

The second generation Brio was unveiled on 2 August 2018 at the 26th Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show. It was previewed by the Small RS Concept that was displayed at the 26th Indonesia International Motor Show in April 2018. Unlike the second generation Amaze, the second generation Brio still uses the same platform as the first generation model. While retaining the front side doors from the first generation model, front bumper and dashboard from the facelifted model, the grille, rear side doors, trunk and taillamps were redesigned and the front headlamps were taken from the facelifted second generation Mobilio. The rear glass hatch is now replaced by a conventional tailgate.
Due to the falling demand in Thailand and India, the second generation Brio is exclusively manufactured in Indonesia.
The export of the car from Indonesia commenced on 26 March 2019.

Markets

Indonesia

For the Indonesian market, the second generation Brio is available in the same trim levels as the facelifted first generation model, with either manual transmission or CVT. The first 200 units of the second generation Brio were delivered to customers in Jakarta on 13 October 2018. Sales of the second generation Brio began nationwide in the same month.
Equipment list is mostly carried over from the previous generation, however the RS trim lost the projector headlamps and the Satya E trim is not equipped with rear spoiler.

Philippines

The second generation Brio was launched in the Philippines on 23 April 2019 and is imported from Indonesia. Trim levels consist of S MT, V CVT, RS CVT and RS Black Top CVT.

Vietnam

The second generation Brio RS was displayed as a prototype model in October 2018 at the Vietnam Motorshow. It was launched in Vietnam on 18 June 2019. As with the Philippine market, the second generation Brio for the Vietnamese market is also imported from Indonesia.

Gallery

Sales

The Brio's planned launch in India was delayed from early 2011 due to the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. It was finally launched in September 2011, just ahead of the festive season, with a starting price of. It joined the Jazz in Honda's hatchback subcompact range for India. In the Indian market, it competes against Maruti Suzuki's Swift and Ritz, Hyundai's i10, Ford's Figo, Nissan's Micra and Toyota's Etios Liva. The first generation Brio was discontinued in India in November 2018 due to poor sales.
The sales took a hit again when Honda's Thailand plant had to shut down due to the massive Bangkok floods. Critical components for the Brio come from Thailand and hence its Indian production stopped for more than a month, resuming only on 15 February 2012.
In Indonesia, the non-LCGC Brio was sold at 9,853 units in the first 10 months of 2014, while the LCGC Brio Satya was sold at 21,959 units. From January to August 2016, the Brio Satya was sold at 20,308 units, with 5,812 units sold in August. Since its introduction, the first generation Brio has been sold 237,272 units in Indonesia as of July 2018. The second generation Brio has been sold 6,703 units in October 2018. In 2019, the Brio emerged as the second best-selling car in Indonesia behind Toyota Avanza.
In 2017, total sales in Asia and Oceania reached 65,325, an increase of 26% from the previous year.
Calendar YearThailandIndonesiaIndia
20113,177
201212,8638,00231,221
20138,56717,16524,954
20141,89638,69313,246
201582243,42610,618
201683546,4967,260
20171,50453,9585,412
20181,34759,2512,277
201970,3443

Recall

In May 2014, Honda issued a recall of about 32,000 Brio and Amaze cars in India due to a possible mis-assembly of the proportioning valve. This recall is limited to models which are not fitted with ABS.