Honda Civic Hybrid price refund for older customers

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) plans to reimburse its Honda Civic Hybrid customers who bought the car before the recent Rs 8 lakh-price cut on the Honda Civic Hybrid. On November 12, 2008, Honda reduced the price of is Honda Civic Hybrid from Rs 21.5 lakh to Rs 13.6 lakh.

HSCI has said that it is not legally bound to refund previous owners of the Honda Civic Hybrid but it is doing this in good faith and to build goodwill in the market.

Honda Civic hybrid

The price cut has led to a surge in demand for the Honda Civic Hybrid. And obviously, it pissed off the few guys who bought the hybrid car at its original high price. Using a combination of an electric motor and a petrol engine, the Civic hybrid is able to offer fuel efficiency figures of around 20 kmpl, almost twice as much as the petrol Civic in India.

Honda has sold 98 Civic Hybrids in one day, which is more than the number of Honda Civic Hybrids it has sold since its launch in the Indian market in June 2008. In the five months since June 2008, Honda has been able to sell only 35 units of the car.

HSCI has sold off its first consignment of 200 Honda Civic Hybrids, after the price cut.

Honda expects to sell off its next batch, nearly 100 Honda Civic Hybrids, as well.

The new price is a limited offer. The price of the Honda Civic Hybrid will revert to the original price at the end of the offer period.

The Honda Civic Hybrid is the first hybrid car to be launched in India. The car did not really take off in India because of its exorbitant price of Rs 21.5 lakh, due to a 105% high import duty, even though it has a high fuel efficiency besides being environment friendly.

Other automobile companies with hybrid models prefer to wait and watch. Toyota and M&M do not have immediate plans to launch the Toyota Prius and the Scorpio Hybrid, respectively.

Many think that the reason behind Honda’s shocking price cut, may be a strategy to clean up their inventory, before the end of 2008, which has piled up since its launch. That is because year of purchase matters much more in cars such as hybrids, when it comes to resale.

The Honda Civic Hybrid offers an average fuel efficiency of 20 km per litre of petrol and comes with a two-year preventive maintenance warranty or 80,000 km and standard warranty for two years or 40,000 km. It also provides roadside assistance for 4 years.

We have always believed that what India needs now, even more than the Tata Nano, is hybrids and electric cars which can enable us to leapfrog the entire internal-combustion trap which the West find themselves caught in.

Considering our high growth auto market, we wish the government of India would do whatever it takes to encourage local and foreign manufacuturers to introduce hybrid vehicles in India. We are suckers for fuel efficiency, and we would gobble them up. Who in India would prefer a petrol car over a hybrid if priced competitively? No one!