Yes, I also heard this.
Basically I don't from when exactly they will (or have) start(ed) selling Chinese made cars in UK.
But I personally won't buy Jazz if they are made in China.
I know Chinese products are reliable (all electronics) but for cars, I'll rather wait few more years before buying a Chinese car!
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Be interesting to see how much more reliable Rover's products will be now that they are made in China, my money on on them being better.
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Even if the Jazz is a car made in China it is not a "Chinese Car" it is Japanese made in China.
Just as the 5 door Auris is Derby Japanese, the 3dr Auris is Turkish Japanese, the Aygo (C1 & 107) are Slovakian Japanese.
I do not really think it matters where they are built but it is who is designing and quality controlling the manufacture.
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Only LHD models are made in China.
I wouldn't say the existing engines are underpowered - we have a 1.4 and it feels quite 'torquey' as a result of the dual spark plug ignition. It's more that adequate for city use and we've driven ours 4 up + luggage on airports runs on the motorway with no concerns.
I've never driven a 1.2 but understand that there's little practical difference.
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The first letter of the VIN gives its country of manufacture - J Japan.
By the way, there is a 1.5 engine in other markets but apparently no plans to offer it in Europe. There is talk of a small diesel - that would be quite a big step as Honda don't already have one.
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The 2.2 diesel would do nicely. Apparently it will squeeze in the existing Jazz:)
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Jazz have been assembled in China for about two years - I have been to the city where they are made (Guangzhou). They are made by CHAC - the China Honda Automobile Co. - like everything in China its a 'joint venture' between Honda and local Chinese state government. There is also an engine plant there - Dongfeng Honda Engine Co. (IIRC Dongfeng means 'Long March' !).
The number of Jazz made by CHAC is quite small, around 10,000 a year I think, they are all LHD and as far as I know they go to Germany - but this may have changed because my information is a year old.
I wouldn't expect them to be any different from cars assembled elsewhere. All the QA is done by the Japanese and most of the parts are shipped in.
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My MIL has a 1.4CVT and it seems pretty nippy to me. It's beautifully put together too. In fact, if I could afford to, I'd swap it for my Passat 1.8 turbo any day.
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This is bad news for me - I have thought for a long time there's a LHD Jazz out there with my name on it. I know I'll have to succumb before I get too much older. But if French market ones are made in China I think I'll give it a miss. I'm sure Honda are very fussy about quality control - as they were when Austin Rover were building for them and half the product apparently had to be taken apart and put together again properly - but I'd rather give the Chinese a chance to get some long-term experience in precision engineering before my money goes into one.
It was interesting to see the name of the city where the factories are. My pal is teaching English at the university there - apparently it (an engineering specialist university) is ranked 253rd among Chinese universities! But he says the students are like sponges, so willing to learn...
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This is bad news for me - I have thought for a long time there's a LHD Jazz out there with my name on it.
No problem if you're buying used - as I pointed out earlier, just make sure the first letter of the VIN is J, indicating made in Japan.
Aprilia: Is the total production of the China factory 10Kish/yr, or are they making a lot for the home market? 10K/yr (200/wk) seems hardly worth bothering.
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Thanks for all the comments - as I will be looking for a car for the UK it appears from what everyone has written that a Jazz is unlikely to be Chinese made/assembled, at least in the short term. I appreciate that Honda are ultimately responsible for quality, which is a plus - I have had an Accord for the last six years and it has been exceptional in all respects. I note the comments on the engine. It is the absence of a bigger engine as well as the 'China question' that has stopped me taking the plunge and buying one so far. I gather that dealers laugh at requests for discounts on the Jazz?
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I gather that dealers laugh at requests for discounts on the Jazz?
I'm not so sure about that - I got an email from my local dealer yesterday with a couple of finance offers on Jazz. OK, they weren't very attractive, but I can't recall seeing anything offered before.
Also, I think people are becoming more aware of the new Jazz coming, and the current one is a bit long in the tooth.
I'm pleased with ours, bought new in Sept 03 (I got a few hundred pounds off, and things like mats / flaps / side bumpers / extra fob at "cost") but Jazz looks stupidly expensive now compared to most other superminis. We looked at a Yaris Zinc recently for our daughter (based on 1.3 T3, with met paint and alloys) and that was available for around £9500. And it has 7 airbags, compared to the Honda's 2.
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No problem if you're buying used - as I pointed out earlier just make sure the first letter of the VIN is J indicating made in Japan.
I believe that the first letter of the VIN is merely an indicator of which country the manufacturer is based in not the country the car was assembled in. As Honda is a Japanese company all Hondas will have a VIN starting J.
Similarly all Mercedes-Benz or smart cars have a VIN beginning with W as the company is based in Germany. The cars might have been assembled in South Africa, USA, France, Netherlands etc.
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First character in the VIN is the country of manufacture. www.autohausaz.com/html/vehicle_identification_num...l Honda made in the UK have S as their first character, as with our Civic....
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First character in the VIN is the country of manufacture.
Must vary from manufacturer to manufacturer then as I know for a fact that all MB and smart start with the German country identifier of W irrespective of where they are made (in fact all smarts begin with W but none of them are made in Germany).
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UK have S as their first character as with our Civic....
Are the first 3 letters SHS? That's the World Manufacturer Identifier for Honda UK.
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BP: SHH for the Civic.
OK, so it looks as though they've used the SH for the UK, (in the European system, SA, SB, SC, SD, SE, SF, SG, SH, SJ, SK, SL, SM all = UK) with the third letter logically meaning Honda.
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BP: If you look at the Autohaus link (I had a better one, but now mislaid) the method is quite clear, even if MB ignore it..... 1st symbol: country. 2nd symbol: maker. 3rd symbol: plant designation (apparently makers code).
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I believe that the first letter of the VIN is merely an indicator of which country the manufacturer is based in not the country the car was assembled in. As Honda is a Japanese company all Hondas will have a VIN starting J.
You might be right, but VIN's vary quite a bit, for instance I used:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Automotive_VIN_codes
This fits our Jazz's VIN with the 3rd letter M = Passenger car made in Japan, and the 11th letter S = Suzuka, Japan for the assembly plant.
However the first 2 letters do also fit the World Manufacturer Indentifier list, JH for Honda, Japan.
I also noticed while searching for this that there's a 4WD Jazz exclusively sold in Japan. I wonder why? (as in; why bother to have a 4WD Jazz)
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That Wilkipedia entry is out of date
Well, if you click on the 'edit this page' tab at the top, then you can contribute to it - that's the idea of Wikipedia.
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