The news of Honda thinking of launching diesel engines in the market in the next few years has already reached almost every ear. However, there is yet another interesting piece of news about Honda cars. Remember Honda’s New Small concept that’s been the topic of discussion for long? Well, the hot news is about that car.

The much-hyped Honda small car was displayed at the Delhi Auto Expo earlier this year. We now hear that the new car is being named the Brio. The car which was in the beginning codenamed CV2 has finally got a name. Know what Brio means? It means both ‘the funny car’ and ‘small’.

The Brio will possibly hit the market strapped with a 1.2-litre petrol motor and would carry a competitive price tag too. The Honda small car is expected to launch in Thailand in March next year and is expected to reach India too at the same time. Thanks to the heavy localization, Honda hopes to price it around Rs 5 Lakh. It would be the cheapest Honda car ever.

The small, the new car is likely to be packed with safety equipment. There would be airbags, ABS (anti-lock braking system) and G-CON (G-Force Control body engineering) body standards that will work together to keep the integrity of the passenger cabin intact in case of an accident.

The G-Force control happens to be an ultra-modern way of designing and engineering a new car body so that the G-forces of a crash are scattered as much as possible and channelled away from the occupants. Controlled crushability of critical body components, along with the way crash forces work together on the car’s interior components, are significant aspects of G-Con. This sophisticated engineering technique also permits the correct attachment and positioning of safety-critical components like seatbelt mountings.

The Brio has been customised to suit the Indian taste and roads. The car maker has indeed performed a lot of research to develop this car. Indian habits and climate has been considered while designing the small car. The Japanese car maker even went to the extent of having several women employees fly to the Tokyo headquarters. Wonder why? The engineers there wanted to study how women in saris slipped in and out of a small car.

The car’s A/C and interior fabrics too have been designed keeping in mind Indian climate. The small car will be pitted against the likes of Skoda Fabia, the Maruti Suzuki Swift and Hyundai i20.