Honda Cars Aug 2020 sales in India has declined to 7,510 units – Down by about 9%
Launch of the new gen City has failed to give a sales boost to the Japanese car maker. In Aug 2020, sales of HCIL stood at 7,510 units, which is a decline of 9%. Sales in Aug 2019 stood at 8,291 units. For July 2020, sales were at 5,383 units. Month on month Honda has registered sales increase of 39.5%.
To boost sales, Honda has decided to continue selling the old generation City sedan along with the new generation City sedan. Today, they revised the prices and variants of the old City sedan which will be on sale across India.
Honda has rejigged the old sedan’s variant lineup to sufficiently differentiate itself from its successor in terms of pricing. The old Honda City will be available in SV and V trims in manual petrol avatar, priced at INR 9.30 lakh and INR 10 lakh respectively (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Co-existence
Retaining the previous generation model allows Honda to make the City nameplate accessible to much wider audience than before. The new generation model emerges as the most premium product in the country’s mid-size sedan segment with a larger dimension, brand new design inside out and a loads of equipment. The new sedan’s prices range from INR 10.90 lakh to 14.45 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). So, there is sufficient space in the mid-size sedan segment for both the models to co-exist.
It has to be said that the fourth gen City still manages to retain its contemporary appeal and hence is likely to stay relevant for a couple of years at least.
Old sedan at a glance
Honda has not mentioned anything about the features list of the rejigged SV and V trims of the old car. The official website is currently being updated so we will have to wait a bit more to know for sure if there is any feature addition or deletion to arrive at the lower price point.
The sedan continues to employ the BS6 compliant version of Honda’s time proven 1.5-liter i-VTEC petrol engine which develops 119 hp and 145 Nm of torque. The motor is paired with a 5-speed manual unit. The CVT variants have been discontinued. The new gen model employs the same engine and offers 2 more horses while the torque output remains the same. Transmission options includes 6-speed MT and a 7-step CVT.
When it comes to fuel efficiency, the fourth generation Honda City returns 17.4 kmpl while the new sedan (manual variant) is good for 17.8 kmpl.
Positioning
The new Honda City sets a new benchmark for equipment in the steadily diminishing mid-size sedan segment and hence it is more expensive than most of its contenders. The old Honda City which was at the premium end before now covers the entry level space, continuing to fight it out with the likes of Maruti Ciaz, VW Vento, Skoda Rapid.
