India-Bound All-New CR-V Gets Seven Seats And A Diesel!

For the first time since its inception in 1997, the Asian-spec, fifth-gen Honda CR-V will be a seven seater (third-row)!  

The all-new fifth-generation Honda CR-V will make its Asian market debut on March 29 in Thailand. The new model made its world premiere in October last year in America and is already on sale in the USA. Interestingly, Thailand will soon become the first market in the world to get a proper third-row of seats with the new CR-V this time around. It is also getting the 1.6-litre diesel from the previous-generation European CR-V in Thai market. 

We anticipate that the new seven-seater diesel CR-V will replace the model (fourth-gen) that is currently on sale in India. Honda didn’t introduce the facelifted version of the fourth-gen SUV in the country, which was introduced globally in 2015, and perhaps will be bypassed for this new-gen SUV. Lack of a diesel engine and third-row seating were the two bottlenecks in the CR-V’s growth trajectory in India. And looks like these issues have finally been sorted out! The new CR-V is likely to launch next year in the country (maybe it will have a 2018 Indian Auto Expo introduction), and will be locally assembled like the current model.    

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The engine we are talking about is a 1.6-litre i-DTEC unit, which was introduced in 2015 with the facelifted fourth-gen model in the UK. It is a powerful unit generating a peak power output of 160PS and 350Nm of max torque. A six-speed manual is standard, while this engine can also be had with a nine-speed automatic, which was introduced along with the engine in 2015. Also, this is a twin-stage turbocharged version of the 1.6-litre i-DTEC motor (120PS), which was first introduced in 2013.  

Besides the additional row of seats and 1.6-litre i-DTEC oil burner, the Asian-spec CR-V will be similar to its American counterpart. 

Check out more about the fifth-gen CR-V – platform, design, features, new turbocharged petrol engine, and others –  here: Meet The Fifth-Generation Honda CR-V  

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