Is this what "jazz" looks like?
11/04/2017
Probably only a few people remember the first Honda Jazz, which rolled onto our roads from 1984, although it had already been launched in Japan in 1981 (as the Honda City). It was not allowed to be called "City" in this country because Opel had already leased this epithet with the Kadett City.
How the Japanese came up with "Jazz", however, is not immediately clear to the observer.
How would you imagine a car called "Jazz"? Certainly rather unorthodox, with curves and edges that jostle, with surprising details and quirky refinements.
There was hardly any sign of this in the Honda Jazz. The compact car did not look particularly "flamboyant", nor did it appear exalted or special in any way. It was a rather sober functional design that somehow still looked cute, especially because of its small dimensions. Incidentally, the first generation was built until 1986.
After all, the 338 cm short Jazz, of which 270,000 units had already been built before export to Europe, ran at 144 km/h with its 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine with 56 hp. It was not expensive, but it was economical. But hardly any of these characteristics had anything to do with "Jazz". The Citroën Ami 6 would have been more likely to be given this designation.
