New Honda City launch in October, price around Rs 10 lakh

Honda Siel is bringing a new spruced up version of the City to the Indian roads. Honda City, which is one of the largest selling models from the car maker’s stables, will come in with a new look and is expected to cost around Rs 10 lakh.

Update: New City i-VTEC launched! Click here for the latest

Honda Siel currently sells the City sedan priced between Rs 692,000 and Rs 877,000. Honda had sold 2,763 units of City sedan in August.

New Honda City photo

A new version of the Honda City has just been launched in Thailand – and this is what the new City will look like in India too. It is a good looker, as you can see from the Honda City photo gallery here. The front end of the new Hodna City reminds one of the Honda fuyel cell car, the FCX Clarity, while the sides and interiors are closer to the Honda Civic than the City it replaces.

New Honda City photo

The company which sells the current version of the City, in two 1.5L engine variants namely i-DSI and VTEC, will most probably start bookings for the new car from early October. Delivery is expected to get underway from November. The new Honda City would come powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC engine and is expected to give added output and will boast of lower fuel consumption.

New Honda City interior - see that Civic steering wheel?

Most of the additions that would make the new City a charmer are still kept under wraps. However, industry watchers say that along with a new engine, there would also be some changes in the design of the vehicle. The new City is expected to be positioned in such a way that it would compete with the recently launched SX4 sedan from Maruti Suzuki stables. Going by statistical information from Honda, this April-August, Honda Siel’s market share of mid-size segment fell to 13 per cent from around 16 per cent in the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile,  Maruti Suzuki’s market share in the segment saw a rise to 27 per cent from 22 per cent last year during the same period. Honda expects to come back on track with a bang when the new City hits the dealerships next month.

However, at a price of Rs 10 lakh for the New City, it is a bit difficult to compete against the SX4 for sure. On paper, the SX4 provides all major features the new City offers. So whether the Honda brand name would be able to do it for Honda SEIL, we would have to wait and see.

There are some rumors that the new Honda City would be what Honda’s production Insight hybrid car would look like in the US. Honda has big plans for the hybrid Insight, so there is a slight chance that the new City in India would come to us at some future date in hybrid form. Well, we can hope…

For now, enjoy the pics in the New Honda City photo gallery.