The Honda ZR-V has been approved for sale, which will give the Japanese brand a crucial third SUV offering in the Australian market.
The variants section of the government approval documents reads “1.5L, HEV”. This is understood to refer to a turbocharged 1.5-litre and a hybrid 2.0-litre four-cylinder. The documents don’t include images, but Honda revealed the Japanese-market ZR-V in July as a rebadged, tweaked version of the North American HR-V revealed the month prior. This is a larger model than the “global” HR-V sold in markets like Australia and Europe, and therefore slots in above it but below the CR-V, which is growing in its new generation.
Honda Australia said in May a third SUV would arrive “over the next 12 to 18 months or so”. It hasn’t provided any more precise timing subsequently.
The Japanese launch of the ZR-V has been pushed from October to next spring (our autumn) as a result of semiconductor shortages, with further details of the model to be announced this month. The model has also been introduced in China and is set to go on sale in Europe in 2023. Unlike the HR-V, which only seats four in Australia due to local design rules, the ZR-V will offer five seats.