A new report on Team BHP suggests that the development of next generation 2020 Honda City is almost done. The 2020 Honda City is expected to be launched around March 2020, while the production might start a month earlier, around February 2020. Hence, the 2020 Auto Expo can work out to be a perfect platform for the next-gen city to make its India debut. As per earlier report, global debut is later this year, most likely in Thailand.
The current generation City was introduced back in January 2014 and had received one mid-life facelift in 2017. By 2020, it will complete a total run of 6 long years in the Indian market. Relatively, the previous generations of City were sale for around 5 years each.
In all likelihood, the new-gen City will come equipped with BS6 emission norms compliant motors. This would mean that the pricing too shall see a sharp hike, thanks to the additional components required to make cars BS6 emission norms compliant.
Engine options in India are expected to be the same (1.5 litre petrol and diesel options) in the next-gen City too, however they will receive considerable upgrades. As reported earlier, probability of inclusion of a petrol hybrid variant are also high this time. On the design and dimension front, the car can take inspiration from the Honda Crider which is slated between City and Civic in Honda’s line-up.
In international markets, the City is expected to get a 1.0 litre turbocharged petrol motor which might get paired with a CVT and a 6-speed MT. Additionally, a 1.5 litre petrol engine clubbed with 2 electric motors is also on cards.
As far as sales figures are concerned, City, Verna and Ciaz have been almost neck-to-neck in the last few months. All three sedans manage sales of around 3,000-4,000 units per month, excluding some outliers. Other cars in the segment like the Yaris, have failed to make a mark in customer’s minds. The next-gen City will continue to compete with its age-old rivals like Verna and Ciaz, however it will also get fresh competition from the next generation iterations of Nissan Sunny and Skoda Rapid and VW Vento.
