Speaking of vents, the new HR-V gets a Honda-first air diffusion system that you’ll find on the side vents. Both these cars wear RS styling, which includes gloss black paint for the lower body sections and wheel arches. The actual tail lamps are pretty novel too – little light ‘chips’ are laid out in a row, not unlike a less layered version of BMW’s OLEDs found in the previous-generation M4. Like the Toyota Harrier, but the HR-V’s signature appears thicker and brighter. The LED bar is broken up by the Honda logo in the middle. But the biggest piece of jewellery here is the full-width rear LED strip, which gives the HR-V more than a hint of Porsche Macan from far. Up front is a large grille that’s bolder than any Honda nose I remember, and below it is a red accent line that has a “heartbeat” blip on one side. It’s restrained but not boring, because the overall look is lifted by eye-catching details. Personally, I’m digging this new clean look, which is a big contrast from the highly-stylised X50 and the soft curves employed by Mazda and Honda itself with the current CR-V, which all look like they have a giant soft dent in the profile. Side-by-side, you can see the how much sharper the angle is. The most prominent design choice is the rake of the rear screen, which defines the new HR-V’s shape. The hood doesn’t dive down early like before, and the result is a tall and bluff nose. The new SUV stands tall and strong thanks to a shoulder line that’s high and straight – it doesn’t rise from front to back like the X50 and so many others. How about a clean sheet design that shares nothing with its predecessor except for the name and signature hidden rear door handles? The latest RV generation discards the curves and organic shape of old for straight lines and a well-defined outline. It’s a crowded arena now, and Honda needs something special to reclaim the HR-V’s dominance. They’ve been popular, and Toyota – for long a laggard in the SUV segment – is now gaining momentum with the Corolla Cross, which is set to achieve what the C-HR failed to do a couple of years back. Of late, the SUV segment has further expanded to include national entries from Perodua and Proton, the latter with its China-sourced X50 and X70 models. The power of the Honda brand, unique coupe-inspired design in and out, and clever maximisation of a compact footprint meant that it was a crowd pleaser – it’s not uncommon to see shopping mall parking lots and suburban taman porches filled with rows of HR-Vs. The RU generation HR-V wasn’t the first B-segment SUV to reach Malaysia, but it was by far the biggest hit, stealing buyers from class-above models such as the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Mazda CX-5. The new car – which we’ve detailed in a first impressions review – has big shoes to fill as the outgoing second-generation HR-V (the name was first used by a boxy two-door oddball from the early 2000s) was a huge success for Honda in Malaysia, with over 111,000 units sold since 2015. About time, because the outgoing HR-V has been around since 2015 – seven years is a long time in today’s car world, more so for the fast-moving SUV segment. The next-generation 2022 Honda HR-V is now open for booking in Malaysia.
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