[StarScream]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

I don't want to upgrade to a boat

You haven't driven it, have you? It was the North American car of the year in 2012, beating the Jetta, not boat of the year. Hyundai must've done something right.

[vasudeva]

Really there must be something to do about Honda's finances so as to force them to vacate all sedan segments beyond City. Honda is known for its high degree of cost efficiencies, and not selling cars at too big a loss. Rather not sell than maintain a presence and produce with diseconomies of scale.

[Parm]

Honda Civic is suffering a tough onslaught from Hyundai and Kia in the gulf countries. Hyundai Elantra and Kia Cerato has eaten into its share of sales and going to beat it with hands down.

Hyundai and Kia offer a whole load of features, equipment and technology in their vehicles that make Civic and Corolla from 90s.

It makes sense for Honda India to discontinue the larger civic in favour of smaller honda cars with diesel and petrol engines. A Jazz based compact SUV is the requirement of the day in Honda India's product list to take on the segment created by Duster and Ecosport.

[carZest]

Originally Posted by StarScream

You haven't driven it, have you? It was the North American car of the year in 2012, beating the Jetta, not boat of the year. Hyundai must've done something right.

I think he is using the soft-sprung Vernas and Sonatas as benchmarks and extrapolating to the Elantra. Not just this generation - even the older generation Elantras were very good handlers. Not segment leading, but very good. I have a 2006 model and boy it does handle well!

[smsrini]

Dimensionally the 2014 City launched this year in India, is almost as big as the american Civic. So the Indian Customers who want a chauffer driven car really are not missing out anything, except the 'civic' badge.

Yes smaller engines maybe, but the earlier Civic was not a performance car either.

[Baddychat]

Originally Posted by StarScream

The Civic and Accord were more mainstream products, even if they were CKDs. That meant more production, maintaining a stock, investment from dealers in test drive cars etc. (Try getting a test drive for a specific CR-V variant -- either they won't have it or they'll show a customer's car.) To add to that, the Civic and Accord were positioned in competitive segments where they lacked a diesel engine and they couldn't command any outrageous price.

I do not agree with you on this . All I am trying to say is that if they can sell the CR-V the way they do, the same would apply while selling the accord.
On your point where you say Accord is part of a competitive segment, while the CR-V is not, I cannot understand how ? CR-V 4WD would be part of the 20+ lakh SUV segment where I think the lack of a diesel variant makes it look as if it does not exist because the in the said price band, you have the T-Fort which racks in 1.5k+ units of sales per month.
The Accord on the other hand was part of a low volume segment, the D2 if I am not mistaken where it goes up against the Passat,Superb, Sonata, Camry and the likes and it was still raking in 50+ units per months. The segment leader here does 150 units max IMO.
So I still do not find sense in CR-V selling and the accord discontinued. They could have done away with the V6 if they had issues selling that variant.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by Baddychat

I do not agree with you on this . All I am trying to say is that if they can sell the CR-V the way they do, the same would apply while selling the accord.
On your point where you say Accord is part of a competitive segment, while the CR-V is not, I cannot understand how ? CR-V 4WD would be part of the 20+ lakh SUV segment where I think the lack of a diesel variant makes it look as if it does not exist because the in the said price band, you have the T-Fort which racks in 1.5k+ units of sales per month.
The Accord on the other hand was part of a low volume segment, the D2 if I am not mistaken where it goes up against the Passat,Superb, Sonata, Camry and the likes and it was still raking in 50+ units per months. The segment leader here does 150 units max IMO.
So I still do not find sense in CR-V selling and the accord discontinued. They could have done away with the V6 if they had issues selling that variant.

You've answered the question yourself. The CR-V, which belongs to the broader category of 20+ lakh SUV/softroader, exists in its own exclusive niche because it is petrol powered. With the Vitara and Outlander being discontinued it doesn't have any competition within that niche. It really isn't a contender, as you say, against cars like the Fortuner, Pajero Sport and Captiva.

The Accord was part of a segment where it competed against greater choices such as the Superb, which has petrol and diesel engines. Same with the Civic, which had petrol and diesel competition.

When the CR-V had similar diesel and petrol competition, it was a CBU. A CBU is great for car companies because it allows them to have the least possible commitment to the market. It explains why Toyota finds it worthwhile to keep the Prius in its lineup.

[VinodDevil81]

May be this decision makes more business-sense to Honda. I think Honda is aiming to be the next Maruti in India by focusing only on mid-segment cars.Perfectly understandable since much of the sales happen in this segment.And if they themselves are not confident about Civic competing with the likes of Elantra and Octavia, then who can be blamed?

But I think this absence in the D segment and above will surely have an adverse effect on the legendary brand image that Honda still has in our Country. They are slowly downgrading that image to something more like that of MSIL. Even Hyundai has Elantra and Sonata in the upper segments. It seems like Honda is getting afraid to play in the higher segments in India ( for whatever business reasons ) and thus slowly retreating from those segments. I would'nt be too surprised if they discontinue the CR-V too within an year or two.

[Equus]

What are the kind of margins Honda got on the prev gen Civic?
The margins on the Honda City were very good until 2008 (till ZX) - not sure of the iVTEC models. When the Civic was launched, it was a favorite but lost its shine and never recovered.

[SkyWalker]

If you go with pure numbers, Honda's decision makes sense. Even if they launch Civic with the 1.6 diesel, lets say in the 110-120 bhp avatar - what could they do? At best they could probably steal some marketshare from Corolla/Elantra. The Jetta, Cruze and Octavia come with much more powerful 2L engines and that market may not be swayed much. So what would they do? Focus on Mobilio, and probably Vezel which could easily do upwards to 3K if they introduce it in India.

From a branding point of view however, this could be a little bit of a problem. Civic and Accord made Honda an aspirational brand. They still have CRV, but that doesn't sell much. I still don't think the 1.6L make any sense for CRV - it should probably have the 2.2L.

I am not going with the emotional aspects of discontinuing a well loved brand. Thats a much loner decision.

[coolkurt]

The point is, if they can think.of launching the CRV with the 1.6 diesel, then why not the civic? Honda has a premium image in India due to accord, CRV and the Civic. Now with two of them discontinued, their elite image might take a beating.

[Arch-Angel]

I think this entire shift of perception is due to their assumption of an average indian buyer's preference. One thing i did figure out was Honda is trying to reduce the gap between their product positioning but inadvertently, there is now a big gap from the amaze to the CRV. The civic would perfectly sit in this 13-15l price gap(D). To me, the civic is a great car and definitely can and will sell itself not just because of its style and interiors but also because of it being a car with a decent equipment list. But you can't but compare civic to the corolla and the octavia and this segment is where models with reputation over all other factors sell themselves.

One thing that is good at the moment is an entry of quite a number of new models which i hope will force everyone to include a well equipped car starting from the small car segment to the D-segment. But why the CRV is on sale while the civic is out of the portfolio is still a mystery. I think we will have to wait for the new Jazz' pricing to understand what Honda is really upto.

[Abudhabicars]

Originally Posted by Parm

Honda Civic is suffering a tough onslaught from Hyundai and Kia in the gulf countries. Hyundai Elantra and Kia Cerato has eaten into its share of sales and going to beat it with hands down.

Hyundai and Kia offer a whole load of features, equipment and technology in their vehicles that make Civic and Corolla from 90s.

.

The Civic's poor sales in the GCC is more due to its terrible pricing rather than a poor product (or anything like that-especially after the face-lift which got many things right)

For starters the Price of the Basic Model is 10K above all the competitors and its pretty much a joke when it comes to options such as a 2 Speaker stereo and 15 inch steel wheels. Secondly the decently spec-ed Mid-Range Civic is actually more expensive than the Nissan Altima 2.5 so you can see the disaster here.
If Priced right it can surely beat down all the competitors , but thats very unlikely to happen as then it can beat the Dealer's own best-selling (Crap) product I.e Corolla. (Atleast in the UAE) and the Civic does command a premium position at the end of the day.

[RavenAvi]

Straight from the horse's mouth - the Honda Civic's era in India is well and truly over, as per a report in the Hindu Business Line, who sat down with an interview with Mr Jnaneshwar Sen, Honda’s Vice-President for Sales & Marketing.

The carmaker will relaunch the compact Jazz and premium sedan Accord with new generation specs. The sports utility vehicle, CR-V, has already been relaunched with new features.

The only model which will not be brought back will be the premium sedan Civic.

The company also plans to double sourcing of auto parts to about Rs. 600 crore this fiscal.

Jnaneshwar Sen, Honda’s Vice-President for Sales & Marketing, told BusinessLine all the cars being relaunched will be next generation models. Civic is not being revived because the segment it plays in is showing no signs of growth, he pointed out.

Bad news for Civic lovers, specially those who were waiting for the next-gen Civic's launch in India.

SOURCE - The Hindu Business Line

[sarathlal]

Gaadiwaadi has managed to snap these pictures of the 2015 Honda Civic spotted outside Honda’s manufacturing facility in Tapukara, Rajasthan.
This being a left hand drive model, is most likely the equipment aimed solely on RnD.











Even knowing fully well that this will most likely never happen to us, really hope to have this hell of a hatch on our roads.