While exterior dimensions are identical, the upcoming Honda City Hybrid is 110 kilos heavier than its regular siblings
Ahead of its launch in India, first units of the upcoming Honda City Hybrid have started reaching dealerships across the country. The fully hybrid sedan is expected to hit showrooms across the country from next month onwards while deliveries are likely to commence soon after. Official bookings of City Hybrid are already underway.
A unit of City Hybrid wrapped in Platinum White Pearl shade has been spotted in a dealership yard. Images are credited to Kumar Aasutosh. The mid-size sedan with an electrified powertrain will be offered in two variants- V and ZX, both sitting on top of the standard range of City. Prices for City Hybrid are expected to start around Rs 18 lakh (ex-showroom) mark.
Honda City Hybrid Spied: Exterior Highlights
Design of City Hybrid is almost identical to the regular sedan barring a few exterior details. Highlights like a front grille with a honeycomb pattern, new fog lamp housings, logos get a blue hue, a faux diffuser with a carbon fibre-like effect and more importantly an e:HEV badging on the boot lid to distinguish itself from the standard range of City.
Other visual highlights include LED headlights with LED DRLs, 16-inch dual-tone alloy wheels, a boot-lid spoiler and a shark fin antenna. Unfortunately, the India-spec model won’t be available in an RS trim that flaunts some sporty exterior and interior touches over the standard model. More than aesthetic updates, City Hybrid features major upgrades under its hood.
Hybrid Powertrain Specs
Under its hood, City Hybrid is powered by Honda’s i-MMD (Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive) hybrid powertrain that draws power from the combination of a petrol engine and two electric motors. This setup features a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated Atkinson cycle petrol engine that works in tandem with two electric motors.
While one electric motor is integrated within the petrol motor and acts as a starter-generator, the other drives the front wheels via a single, fixed-ratio gearbox. The petrol motor is good enough to produce 98 bhp and 127 Nm of peak torque. The independent electric motor is capable of dishing out 109 bhp and draws energy from a 0.7kWh Lithium-ion battery pack housed in the car’s boot.
The combined peak output of this powertrain stands at 126 bhp and 253 Nm of peak torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via an e-CVT gearbox, which is essentially an electric motor with a shift by wire technology. This powertrain is also capable of running on pure electric power for short distances. Honda claims an average fuel economy figure of 26.5 kmpl for City Hybrid.
Features on offer
City Hybrid will be brimming with a wide range of creature comforts including an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, all-LED illumination, connected car technology, Google Voice Assistant, Amazon Alexa remote compatibility, ambient lighting and a semi-digital instrument cluster with a 7-inch TFT display. The top-spec ZX trim will also be laced with Honda’s Sensing technology which is essentially Advanced Driver’s Assistance System (ADAS).
