Honda launches a class leader |17 September 2014

Honda (Seychelles) has announced the launch of the all-new Honda Ballade at its showroom at Autoland, Providence.

The new Honda Ballade replaces the Honda City that was first introduced in Seychelles back in 2009.  However, the new Ballade has raised the bar yet even further and is poised to appeal to local buyers looking for style, space, safety, exciting features, performance and reliability at an affordable price.

According to Honda (Seychelles) general manager Anthony Payet, the all-new Ballade is a leader in its class because it has it all.
 
“From state of the art safety technology to exceptional comfort and from greater engine performance and fuel efficiency to some of the latest car features available on the market, the Ballade just keeps impressing,” said Mr Payet.

“The Ballade is already Honda’s best-selling sedan on the South African market and we are extremely excited about its potential to also do as well in our market,” highlighted Jude Mein, the sales executive for Honda (Seychelles).

Innovative solutions such as reduced internal friction, weight reduction and Honda's own i-VTEC variable valve timing system, an all new 7-speed constantly variable transmission (CVT), together with the Ballade's more aerodynamic shape, have allowed significant improvements in performance, fuel consumption and emissions.

The new CVT unit's design is a direct result of Honda's Earth Dreams initiative, which seeks to create intelligently engineered, efficient technologies that also deliver environmental benefits such as reduced fuel consumption and emissions.

The new Ballade is also slightly longer by 45mm and taller by 5mm than the City and a 50mm increase in its wheelbase has also resulted in a more spacious, class-leading interior, and a generous boot of 536 litres.  The result is a car that looks fresh and modern, with a powerfully communicated presence and a strong identity.

“In Seychelles the Honda Ballade is available in two versions – the Trend and the Elegance,” noted Mr Mein.  “Both versions come with 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine and with manual or the latest generation CVT plus a myriad of other standard features not usually associated with a car in its class,” he added.

On the safety side, the new Ballade is the car to beat, offering class-leading levels of active and passive safety such as six airbags – front, side and curtain – as well as vehicle stability assist (VSA) as standard across the range. VSA incorporates both traction control and electronic stability control, helping the driver in maintaining control, even in extreme situations.

Honda has also included Hill Start Assist to the Ballade's feature set, making starts on an incline easier and safer by preventing the vehicle from rolling back.

The Ballade body construction employs Honda's G-Con (G-Force Control) technology, which uses pre-programmed deformation patterns to manage the forces of a collision through the Ballade's body, as well as the forces exerted on the occupants during a collision, and onto pedestrians in the case of a pedestrian accident.

A further innovation fitted to the new Ballade Elegance is a multi-angle rear-view camera.  When reverse gear is selected, the camera view is displayed on the car's touch-screen display.  The camera angle can be adjusted to change perspective, helping with parking.

The camera incorporates a dynamic guidance function that displays yellow guide lines while reversing to indicate the area into which the vehicle is being reversed. The lines change as the steering wheel angle is changed to show the area being reversed towards.

As part of the thoroughly updated interior, the Ballade Trend model gets an all-new audio system with integrated USB and Bluetooth.  The list of standard equipment is comprehensive, and also includes air-conditioning, electric windows, electric folding mirrors, and remote central locking.

The Elegance version takes the already comprehensive Trend package up a further notch by introducing a multifunction steering wheel that follows the Civic steering wheel's design, and incorporates control of the cruise control, Bluetooth and audio functions.

However, the most eye-catching addition to the Elegance execution is a seven-inch touchscreen display with icon-based graphical user interface. It offers an intuitive interface for the car's infotainment system, including audio functionality and Bluetooth telephony.

In addition, the infotainment system is fitted with an HDMI port. HDMI allows images, video and audio data to be accessed from compatible smartphones and devices (such as iPads and tablets) and displayed on the Ballade's screen.

Pricing for the new Ballade will start at R355,000 and Honda (Seychelles) will help with financing options for qualified customers.

Like all Honda vehicles, the Ballade comes with a three-year or 100,000km warranty and a free service at 10,000km.

For more information about the Ballade and other Honda products, please visit the Honda (Seychelles) showroom at the Providence Industrial Estate or visit the Honda (Seychelles) page on Facebook or call 4389444 to book a test drive now.