Honda today began sales of the all-new Jazz / Fit -based Grace Hybrid at dealerships across Japan. According to Honda, the compact sedan combines the handling and fuel economy of a compact vehicle with the spacious cabin of an upper-middle-class sedan.

Honda says the Grace Hybrid (called City in Southeast Asia) boasts similar rear seat space as the Accord Hybrid thanks to the model’s longer wheelbase and the placing of the rear seats at the rearmost possible position compared to the Jazz hatchback from which it is derived. Furthermore, opening of the rear doors was enlarged to increase the accessibility.

With 430 liters (15.1 cu-ft), boot volume is also decent for this class, considering that the hybrid powertrain is placed under the floor.

The Honda Grace Hybrid is powered by the Sport Hybrid i-DCD (intelligent Dual Clutch Drive) one-motor hybrid system that combines a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle DOHC i-VTEC engine with a 7-speed DCT transmission with built-in electric motor and the IPU with a built-in lithium-ion battery.

The hybrid system enables the driver to start in EV mode and returns 34.4 km/l (2.9 l/100 km or 80.9 mpg US) in the JC08 mode. Honda says the Grace Hybrid’s average fuel economy is the best among all hybrid sedan models in the Japanese market (except plug-in hybrid models). The all-new Honda Grace is also offered with a four-wheel drive version.

Prices for the Honda Grace start from 1,950,000 yen ($16,440) for the standard FWD version and from 2,144,400 yen ($18,075) for the base AWD model.

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