Facelifted Honda Vezel/HR-V Debuts in Japan with Improved e:HEV Setup

The facelifted Honda HR-V/Vezel has debuted in Japan, featuring minor design tweaks and an improved e:HEV hybrid setup.

Few years after being introduced in the market, the second-gen Honda Vezel (or HR-V in ASEAN markets) has been given a mid-life update in Japan. The facelifted treatment sees this B-segment SUV crossover gaining some minor updates on the design front, as well as its proprietary e:HEV hybrid setup.

The facelifted Vezel comes with a mildly-tweaked exterior design, featuring new headlights and taillights.

Starting with the exterior, the facelifted Vezel gains a very mildly tweaked front face, featuring a wider front grille flanked by a new pair of projector LED headlights that support the Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) function. While the rest of the car remains the same as prior, the new HR-V also gets redesigned LED taillights, which feature a slim red bar light segment along with the standard full-width light bar.

Rugged Honda Vezel HuNT version in Japan

Exclusively available for the Japanese market is the special HuNT variant of the facelifted Vezel, which adds some rugged, off-road-inspired parts like the functional roof rails, the orange highlights around the fog lamps, skid plates, and revised upholstery inside the cabin.

While the special model comes with a unique upholstery option, the standard facelifted Vezel boasts no significant changes over its predecessor. Notable standard features like the fully digital instrument cluster and the floating central infotainment screen that supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are all present in this facelifted model.

Honda has tweaked the facelifted Vezel's e:HEV hybrid powertrain setup to make it more responsive.

By far the most significant change bestowed on the facelifted Vezel is in its hybrid powertrain setup, where Honda says it has “further enhanced the engine sound while driving in the city” and made it more responsive. With no mention of what has exactly changed on it, we can presume that it’ll continue to use the same 1.5-litre 4-cyl DOHC i-VTEC petrol mill rated at 105 PS and 127 NM as its core, plus the hybrid electric motor setup delivering 131 PS and 253 NM.

The facelifted Honda Vezel is poised to go on sale in Japan later in spring 2024. With the Japan-spec Vezel/HR-V already getting the facelift treatment in its native market, it remains to be seen whether the ASEAN-spec HR-V model will bring the same changes as its Japanese counterpart.