Let’s Elevate

During the global unveil of Honda India’s premium SUV – Elevate – we caught up with Munetsugu Kaneko, Large Project Leader, Honda Elevate, Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co who spoke to us about not just its design philosophy but also about its extensive testing process. Excerpts from the interview… TOS: Tell us about the design philosophy of Honda Elevate… MK: This is the new mid-size SUV for India, in fact, not only for India, but for the global market. As you know, our design philosophy is to keep it simple yet sophisticated – it is a key principle of design. Also, we wanted to showcase the Elevate’s SUV like appearance, so, we looked for a balance. For example, we even surveyed the tyres and the glasses carefully. During this survey we found out that this is the best balance for the mid-size SUV in India. This is our basic story for the styling/design. TOS: The windows are quite big for an SUV this size. What’s the thinking behind that? MK: As you told me the glass area is wider but if you see carefully see, it is balanced with the body and comes across as elegant. Also, we investigated what is the