Originally scheduled on March 18, the launch of the ‘Fit Shuttle’ was delayed due to the devastating earthquake of Japan. Announcing the new release date, Honda has confirmed that this car will be available from June 16 this year. This announcement was made right after rival Toyota announced the launch of the five-seater PriusV.

Although the earthquake created problems for the manufacturer in procuring components for the new variant, production of this model started at the Suzuka factory in Mie Prefecture in early May. And enough units of this car have been manufactured making it ready for a release in June. The car is expected to reach the customers by July.

The Fit Shuttle is a station-wagon like variant of the standard Fit also known as the Jazz in some parts of the world and will be available in both regular and hybrid powertrains. The regular powertrain will feature a 1.5 liter four cylinder gasoline engine and the hybrid model will comprise of a 1.3 liter gasoline engine along with a 10KW electric motor.

This five seater car will have a roomy luggage compartment thanks to the center tank layout packaging arrangement. The car has an impressive fuel economy of 30 kilometers per liter. The front wheel drive model is equipped with Electronic Stability Control system as standard equipment adding impressive safety features to this car.  The hybrid model of the Fit Shuttle is also equipped with a compact and lightweight Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system and will be the first hybrid wagon type model in its class.

via egmcartech