Do you own a first-generation Honda Jazz? Well, if you’re reading this on June 21, you should wish your car a happy birthday. That’s because the first-gen Jazz made its world premiere in Japan on that day in 2001. And yes, the original Jazz is well over 20 years old now.
Known as the Fit in its home market, the Honda Jazz was a replacement for the Honda Logo. If you have no idea what the latter is, it’s totally understandable. It wasn’t exactly a memorable-looking car. Anyway, back to the Jazz.
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Its development story was rather interesting with several revolutionary packaging methods implemented. The primary goal was to maximize space in the smallest footprint possible. Its main target? The Toyota Vitz, better known to you and us as the Echo or first-generation Yaris. Honda was determined to beat the Yaris in space efficiency, and boy did it deliver.
Following the Man Maximum, Machine Minimum philosophy, Honda pushed the engine as far forward as it could for more room. At the same time, the fuel tank was moved to the center of the car to free up space at the back and the cargo room. Because of that, it had a raised driving position, loads of legroom at the back, and a cargo area that was easily among the largest in class.
The chassis layout of the Jazz also allowed it to have something called the ULT seats. The rear seats could be split 60:40 (Utility), folded flat (Long), or the seat bottom raised (Tall) to accommodate cargo of different shapes and sizes. Of course, there are physical limitations as to how much stuff you can pack in the Jazz. After all, it was just under four meters long. But in that small footprint, it could carry nearly as much as larger cars.
Then there was the styling. It looked fun, funky, and different. It was certainly a huge step up from the boring Logo thanks to the sharper exterior. The car looked good, had a lot of space, and was an engineering triumph of maximizing room. Oh, and this generation of Jazz also spawned the second-generation City, known as the Fit Aria in Japan.
The Jazz arrived in the Philippine market in 2004, three years after its world premiere. The little hatchback was a hit in the market and, in some ways, brought back interest in small hatches in the Philippines. It also helped that it was a fuel-sipper, easily getting 20km/L on expressways if you’re not too crazy on the gas pedal. The local market loved it, and a new cult following was born.
Honda sold the Jazz in the Philippines from 2004 until 2021, subsequently succeeded by the City Hatchback. Two more generations were sold within those years, earning more and more fans along the way. In fact, one of us is such a huge fan of the Jazz, he ended up with eight of them. Okay, it was six at the time we wrote about it, but he loves it so much he bought two more after that.
The Jazz might not be sold here anymore, but its legacy lives on. To this day, Honda packages its subcompact models like the first-generation Jazz. The City and City Hatchback retain the central tank design, and the latter still has the ULT seats. The Jazz also helped make the CVT gain more acceptance in the Philippines, and just about every small car in the land these days has one.
Even more than 20 years later, the impact of the Jazz is still felt in the industry. It made other manufacturers find more ways to make the most out of a small car, and it was one of the cars that helped change the perception and expectations from subcompact cars.
None of that would have happened if Honda hadn’t developed the car and launched it on June 21, 2001.
