Honda Elevate launch in September, bookings open

Honda India has officially opened bookings for the Elevate SUV, the brand’s most important launch in our market in a long time. The booking amount is set at Rs 21,000; the Elevate will go on sale in September 2023, and deliveries are slated to begin around the same time. The SUV will be displayed at showrooms by the end of July, while test drives are expected to begin by early August.

India will be the mother plant for the Elevate SUV and Honda has plans to export the SUV to other markets as well, as it does with the City sedan. 

1. Elevate will get sunroof in top two variants
2. No petrol-hybrid engine on offer
3. Prices expected to start at around Rs 11 lakh (ex-showroom)

Honda Elevate engine, expected variants

Powering the Elevate will be a 121hp, 145Nm, 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine mated to a 6-speed manual or an optional 7-step CVT automatic. Honda does not have diesel-powered models in India right now and, as such, the Elevate will skip the diesel option. Additionally, the Elevate won’t get a strong-hybrid engine, but an all-electric version is in the works. 

Four variants are expected to be offered on the Elevate and there will be seven solid exterior paint options with additional three dual-tone colours on offer.

Honda Elevate features and equipment

The Elevate gets a 10.25-inch infotainment screen along with a 7-inch semi-digital instrument cluster. It also gets Honda Sensing, the brand's ADAS suite that made its debut in India with the City hybrid. The Honda Sensing bundle includes a collision mitigation braking system, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control and more.

The Elevate also gets a sunroof, albeit a single-pane unit and not a panoramic sunroof that almost all its rivals offer (except the VW Taigun and the Skoda Kushaq).

Honda Elevate expected pricing and rivals

Dealer sources tell us that the Elevate will be priced around Rs 1 lakh-1.5 lakh higher than the equivalent City variant. A starting price of around Rs 11 lakh is expected, with the top model being priced at around 19 lakh (ex-showroom). At this price, the Elevate will see stiff competition from better-equipped rivals like the Hyundai Creta and the Kia Seltos facelift, which get more features and a diesel engine, the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and the Toyota Hyryder, which also get petrol-hybrid powertrain options, and the Skoda Kushaq and the Volkswagen Taigun SUVs.