New Honda HR-V breaks cover in Japan but will the Hyundai Kona, Mazda CX-30 small SUV rival come to Australia?

Honda’s updated HR-V has broken cover in Japan with fresh styling inside and out, better safety technology and a hybrid powertrain upgrade giving Australia a crystal ball gaze into what the small SUV will offer in the very near future.

Known as the Vezel in its home country of Japan, the HR-V has been given subtle styling tweaks for 2024. 

The new HR-V sports a wider and more rectangular slatted grille and a redesigned front bumper, while inside storage has been improved with a small shelf built into the dashboard.

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Safety tech has also been improved and now includes traffic jam assistance, adaptive headlights and a sudden acceleration suppression function.

Honda has also refined the HR-V’s hybrid system with the carmaker saying the e:HEV variant now has an “updated energy management control to further reduce engine noise while driving around town and also improves driver operation".

Driveaway pricing for the HR-V starts at ,700 for the petrol variant and ,000 for the e:HEV hybrid.

The current-generation Honda HR-V arrived in Australia in 2022 and is due for an update about now. Whether these changes seen on the Japanese version materialise in Australia is yet to be seen, but likely.

The HR-V sits below the ZR-V and CR-V in Honda’s Australian line-up. Driveaway pricing for the HR-V starts at $36,700 for the petrol variant and $47,000 for the e:HEV hybrid. 

Inside storage has been improved with a small shelf built into the dashboard.

Rivals to the HR-V include the Hyundai Kona, the MG ZS and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross.

Last year Honda sold 2182 HR-Vs putting it just behind its newly launched ZR-V with 2282 sales for 2023. Still both are distantly behind Honda’s CR-V mid-sized SUV which had 7808 sales for the year.