Honda Jade Debuts In Japan - Succeeds Stream, Sort Of

Nearly eight months after its global debut at the 2014 Beijing Auto Show, the Honda Jade is now on sale in Japan starting today. 

However unlike Chinese market 1.8-litre petrol powered Jade, the Japanese-market Jade is only available as a hybrid - a 1.5-litre i-DCD (Intelligent Dual Clutch Drive) petrol-electric hybrid paired with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. The powertrain is similar to the one fitted in the Japanese market Honda Fit (Jazz), Grace (City) and Vezel (HR-V) hybrid models.

Honda claims the Jade will deliver a fuel economy of 25.0 km/litre. This compares to the Toyota Prius Alpha's 26.2 km/litre. Of course, these are based on the Japanese JC08 driving cycle, which gives a far higher reading that Europe's NEDC method.

While the Chinese market Jade is available with either a two row (5-seater) or three row (6-seater) seating configuration, the Japanese market Jade is only available with a three row seating configuration. The middle row's two 'V-slide' captain seats can slide forward or backward while the the third row seats feature a 50:50 split-folding function.

While most hybrid car's traction battery (Honda calls it IPU, Intelligent Power Unit) is fitted under the boot or behind the rear seats, the Jade's traction battery fits snuggly under the centre console. A similar packaging is also used by the Toyota Prius v (also known as the Prius Alpha in Japan).

With a starting price of 2.72 million Yen, the Jade undercuts the Toyota Prius Alpha's 2.93 million Yen's starting price slightly, but the five- or seven-seater Toyota comes with a larger 1.8-litre hybrid powertrain.

Successor to the Stream?

While the Jade appears to be an evolution of the Stream, it is not quite a direct successor to the Stream, which has since been discontinued in May 2014. Thus explains the use of a new 'Jade' nameplate. Of all the current Honda models on sale in Japan, it is the closest to the Stream's ideals.

The Jade's 2.72 million Yen starting price is significantly higher than the Stream's 2.05 million Yen.  

In terms of packaging, the Jade is also quite different, with a significantly lower roofline (45 mm lower) but a wider foot print (90 mm longer and 80 mm wider).

As far as Honda is concerned, the Stream lineage has ended and it does not like there is going to be any successor to last Stream RSZ.