2023 Honda Breeze SUV Debuts – CRV Sized Fortuner Rival

Honda Breeze is a rebranded CR-V with an almost identical body and mostly identical interiors as well

Honda is trying to fix its lack of SUVs in India and upcoming RS SUV might make it to our shores. But it is a giant in terms of PV production and sales in various markets. If you take the North American market, they have a cult following especially with Civic which recently got MY2023 update, and also a 2023 Type-R based on that new gen sedan. Honda has a strong presence in China as well, but it is not that straightforward.

For starters, Honda has two entities in China. One is Dongfeng Honda where Honda Motor Company (40%) along with Honda Motor China Investment Company (10%) has joined hands with Dongfeng Motor Group (50%), based out of Wuhan. Another entity is Guangqi Honda where Honda Motor Company (50%) has joined hands with Guangzhou Automobile Group (50%) based out of Guangzhou.

New Honda Breeze SUV

When Dongfeng Honda launched the CR-V in China, GAC Honda must have gone like, “Heck, we’ll launch a CR-V too”. But they couldn’t launch two CR-Vs at the same time. So, in comes Honda Breeze which is basically a CR-V with a different grille, bumper and taillights.

China’s Ministry of Industry Information and Technology has revealed some exterior pictures and technical specs. 2019 Breeze is a 2019 CR-V and 2023 Breeze is a 2023 CR-V that is also offered in the USA.

The only visual differences on 2023 Honda Breeze SUV, when compared to 2023 Honda CR-V, are a different grille, different bonnet, slightly different front and rear bumpers and a different set of LED taillights. Breeze also gets body-coloured plastic cladding and body-coloured rear bumper while CR-V has black unpainted plastics that reduce visual bulk of the vehicle. Interiors have not been revealed, but going by previous iterations, they’ll have negligible differences.

Specs & Launch

Both CR-V and Breeze might get the same 9” free-standing infotainment system along with a digital instrument cluster too. Also similar are the sunroof and other interior features. In terms of dimensions, Honda Breeze SUV is 4,716 mm long and is just 22 mm longer than CR-V owing to redesigned bumpers at both ends. They both share the same 1,866 mm width, 1,691 mm height and 2,700 mm wheelbase.

2023 Honda Breeze SUV gets a 1.5L four-cylinder gasoline engine making almost 190 bhp. Power figures are identical to US-spec CR-V. This engine is mated solely to a CVT gearbox. Honda also offers FWD or AWD layouts too. This powertrain is manufactured by Dongfeng Honda for CR-V and GAC Honda’s Breeze also uses the same powertrain.

But we all know that China’s stringent emission norms had compelled Honda to offer a 2.0L hybrid powertrain on its CR-V in Dragon land that even the USA doesn’t get. Honda Breeze is also likely to get that hybrid powertrain as an option. Launch of Breeze might happen sometime in 2023.