BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Honda has taken its own sweet time but its mid-size SUV for the Indian market is finally ready. Dhruv Saxena takes a closer look at the upcoming Honda Elevate which is slated to go on sale this festive season

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Honda is finally ready to enter the crowded mid-size SUV segment and it’s going to do that with the all-new Elevate. The SUV has been developed specifically for markets like India and is currently not sold anywhere else in the world. The Elevate’s styling draws inspiration from Honda’s global SUVs like the HR-V, but the resemblance is fleeting at best. Honda has gone in for a traditional SUV look in the sense that the front end gets an upright nose and flat bonnet giving it an imposing presence. But this approach to styling is perhaps the reason why the 17-inch wheels look a tad small on the Elevate. There’s full LED lighting at the front including the fog lamps. At the back, there’s partial LED lighting with only the stop lamps getting that treatment. There’s a red strip that runs across the boot between the tail lamps but it doesn’t light up. Size wise is where the Honda has a slight upper hand over its rivals. It measures 4,312mm long, 1,790mm wide and 1,650mm tall making it slightly bigger than the best-seller, Hyundai Creta. At 2,650mm, the wheelbase of the Elevate is just 1mm lower than that of the best-in-segment Skoda Kushaq/VW Taigun.