[manaljain]

Honda Cars India kick-started its celebrations to commemorate 20 successful years of Honda City in India. Honda City started its journey in India in 1998, and now in its fourth generation avatar, has remained one of the longest running nameplates in the Indian automotive history. India is the largest and most important market for Honda City accounting for over 25% of the car’s current worldwide sales. The car continues to be an aspirational brand for many and enjoys huge brand loyalty amongst its customers.

Honda City sedan is a popular name in India, and in some way, a brand of it's own having now being sold in India for two decades.For a car, Honda City sedan distinguishes itself as one of the longest running nameplates in the Indian automotive history. The India auto market is an important one to Honda, and especially to City.

Yoichiro Ueno, President & CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd said, “We are extremely delighted and proud as we celebrate incredible two decades for Honda City in India, having created new benchmarks ever since its first launch in 1998. With a strong legacy of 4 generations, the Honda City has re-invented each time according to the needs and aspirations of customers.” “Each generation of Honda City has offered a new design, latest automotive technology and new-age infotainment experiences. We thank all our City customers for their patronage of the brand” he added.

Back in October, the company had marked 7 lakh unit sales of Honda City in India. 1st generation City sedan (1998 – 2003) sales stood at 59,378 units. 2nd gen City sedan (2003 – 2008) sales were at 177,742 units. 3rd gen City sales (2008 – 2013) are reported at 192,939 units.

First 3 gen cars were available as petrol variants. Honda Cars India made a diesel variant available with the introduction of the 4th gen City in 2014. To date (2014 – till Nov 2017), 276,095 units of petrol/diesel 4th gen Honda City units have been sold in India.

source : rushlane
motoroids

[OSH]

Congrats to Honda. Here's something from my side;

My '07 City Vtec (2nd gen)


My '12 City iVtec (3rd gen)


My '17 City iVtec (4th gen)


I still have all these cars with me and the 2nd gen has crossed 1 lakh kms few months back.

I even had a 1999 1st gen City in Heather Mist, but I do not have any pics as of now. Dad had sold the car before buying the 2nd gen in 2007.

[Sahil]

That is not the first generation Honda City. There was one before this that was launched in the last 90s a few years after the Opel Astra.

I don't see how Honda India could mess this up. Or maybe they didn't have a first generation honda city available so they went ahead and potrayed the second generation as the first. Below are picture of the first generation.

We had the first generation Honda City 1.3, it was a 100bhp engine that at that time felt like a rocket!! There was also a 1.5L engine which was even better. I remember they launched a sport edition of the 1.5L which had an amazing blue color and nice set of rims.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Sahil

That is not the first generation Honda City. There was one before this that was launched in the last 90s a few years after the Opel Astra.

I don't see how Honda India could mess this up. Or maybe they didn't have a first generation honda city available so they went ahead and potrayed the second generation as the first. Below are picture of the first generation.

We had the first generation Honda City 1.3, it was a 100bhp engine that at that time felt like a rocket!! There was also a 1.5L engine which was even better. I remember they launched a sport edition of the 1.5L which had an amazing blue color and nice set of rims.

A little correction.
1.3 was 90Bhp
1.5 was 100Bhp
Gen 2 Vtec was 106-107Bhp.

[CarguyNish]

Originally Posted by Sahil

That is not the first generation Honda City. There was one before this that was launched in the last 90s a few years after the Opel Astra.

I don't see how Honda India could mess this up. Or maybe they didn't have a first generation honda city available so they went ahead and potrayed the second generation as the first. Below are picture of the first generation.

The 1st Gen one in picture is the Facelift version. But, It's also the first generation model in India. There was a pre Facelift model (The one you are referring).

Below images will give one the idea of each generation and their Facelift avatars along with Key Points.

1st Generation 1996-2000

• 1st Honda to debut in India.
• 1st Asia Specific Car from Honda
• Petrol only Sedan with 2 Engine Options (1.3/1.5) with MT/AT options

1st Gen Facelift 2000-2003

• 1st car to get the World Famous iVTEC Engine
• Exclusive Machine Finished Alloys & Rear Spoiler

2nd Generation 2003-2006

• Gets New iDSI engine that emphasized Fuel Economy over Performance.
• Gets 1st in Segment CVT gearbox
• Only car in Segment to feature fuel tank under front seats.

2nd Gen Facelift 2006-2008

• Gets City ZX moniker.
• Facelift brings back the iVTEC Engine.

3rd Generation 2008-2011

• Arrow Shot Design
• Standard Safety Features across variants
• Option of New TC box.
• Emphasizes Performance over Fuel Economy

3rd Gen Facelift 2011-2013

• New Face brings with it a Corporate Edition at an outstanding price of 6.99 lakhs.
• Gets 1st in Segment Sunroof in Top Spec V Trim
• Highest Selling car in the portfolio

.

4th Generation 2014-2017

• Gets a Diesel Engine for the first time.
• New Evolutionary Design
• Most well equipped compared to predecessors and on par with Segment.
• CVT replaces Torque Converter.

4th Gen Facelift 2017-Till Date

• Gets New ZX trim with added Features.
• New Face resembles the New Civic.
• Gets More expensive

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by CarguyNish

The 1st Gen one in picture is the Facelift version. But, It's also the first generation model in India. There was a pre Facelift model (The one you are referring).

Yes you are right but the facelift was quite major on the first generation that it felt like a completely new gen. I remember when the facelift was the launch of the 1st gen it has a huge campaign with a tagline saying - "Gem of an Engine, Jewel of a car."
Yet, this is testimony that this is PR blunder by Honda India as the first generation was launched in 1996 not 1998 (as per your dates)

They have not been in the news for a while so made up any date to get press. Ridiculous.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by CarguyNish

Below images will give one the idea of each generation and their Facelift avatars along with Key Points.

1st Gen Facelift 2000-2003

• 1st car to get the World Famous iVTEC Engine

2nd Gen Facelift 2006-2008

• Facelift brings back the iVTEC Engine.

The engines of the 1st and 2nd generation Citys were not called iVtec, they were Vtec.

The iVtec engines started coming from the 3rd gen Citys onwards i.e. after 2008 till date. Atleast here in India it was that way.

[parsh]

The cars lined up (first and last) are Type II (facelifts) of their generations.

This is one car very close to heart other than the 800 we had.

They are generally referred to Type I (pre-facelift), Type II (post-facelift).

Have ripped the City Gen 1 Type II to heart's content on Mumbai - Pune old NH4 when we used to do quite a few business trips back then between the 2 cities.

It was the instant hit machine, closest to the Sports Car one could get to in general on road

Originally Posted by Sahil

Yet, this is testimony that this is PR blunder by Honda India as the first generation was launched in 1996 not 1998 (as per your dates)

They have not been in the news for a while so made up any date to get press. Ridiculous.

This is not correct.

As I clearly remember, they had launched it in 1998 in India whereas it was already available in other Asian markets already. It was bought within us (friend) as soon as it was launched and upgraded to Type II as soon as Type II was launched.

Also a small reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Cars_India

I doubt they will make such a big blunder.

[volkman10]

Some more data on the Honda City sales :

-Honda has sold 7,04,857 units of City in India till date in the past 236 months.

- Honda City registered its ever highest sale of 9,777 units in the month of March 2015! However, it is yet to cross the 10k/month sales landmark in the Indian market.

-The latest generation of Honda City (4th Gen) has sold over 2.75 Lakh units in 46 months and has made it the best selling City ever from Honda!

-City still has the highest contribution to Honda’s sales in India. For 2017 (Jan to Nov), City contributed to over 35% of Honda’s sales in India!




Source

[Equus]

The City (with its shiny H badge) has been seen as a status/success symbol since almost day one! Anybody can throw light on what PR helped them achieve that? The Civic also took off well but we know what happened to it (and other cars in its segment).
The Verna name over Accent gave it a shot in the arm but didn't change the game though.

[landcruiser123]

Great achievement by Honda cars India. It is the car that kicked off Honda's journey in India and it is still their bread and butter car. The City has stood the test of time and dominated the sales in it's segment (The Innova and Dzire are in different league though) for most part. Only after so many years are Hyundai (2011 Fluidic Verna) and Maruti (Ciaz) being able to compete in the segment.

And as they say-

VTEC kicked in yo!

[libranof1987]

No doubt a brilliant car as a package. Sure, it had its shortcomings: not a lot of features (Gen 3 especially), not the sturdiest but it essentially defined its segment.

Here's ours; bought in June 2010, still going strong!

Originally Posted by parsh

The cars lined up (first and last) are Type II (facelifts) of their generations.

It is the facelift even on the 3rd Gen; it had a chrome grill and dedicated housings for the foglamps.

Ours (above) is the 3rd Gen as it was lauched: All-New Honda City (ANHC) as it was made popular then.

Originally Posted by Equus

The City (with its shiny H badge) has been seen as a status/success symbol since almost day one! Anybody can throw light on what PR helped them achieve that? The Civic also took off well but we know what happened to it (and other cars in its segment).
The Verna name over Accent gave it a shot in the arm but didn't change the game though.

Two reasons, I think:

1) It was the first Honda that was truly within reach of the average Indian. Honda, until then, was regarded as a premium brand, since we'd mostly heard of the Accord and CR-V. Add to that, Honda and its reputation for quality.

2) An (upper) middle class that was beginning to spend; I think this fact especially helped the City 2nd Gen onwards.

So, the City was perhaps an aspirational product that you could actually possess.

[parsh]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Here's ours; bought in June 2010, still going strong!

Attachment 1708872


It is the facelift even on the 3rd Gen; it had a chrome grill and dedicated housings for the foglamps.

Thanks for pointing out. Yes indeed, guess I overlooked those aspects.

The 1st generation was also quite closer to ground and drove slick like a rocket on the ground, was indeed a beautiful drive. Later they brought in the Arrow Shot design which was quite higher.

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by manaljain

Honda Cars India kick-started its celebrations to commemorate 20 successful years of Honda City in India.

@ manaljain. This Honda City thread is something dear to me because the Dolphin Honda City is the first car I bought with my earnings and will always be special to me.

I would request you to kindly add a Poll to your thread with all the Honda City iterations so that members can vote on their favorite version of this beauty.
If possible, another poll could be added to select the favorite Honda City colour too. I would vote for the New Warm Silver colour that my Dolphin City came in.

Thanks for this thread.

[bluevolt]

Honda's 'City' has a strong brand image among the c-segment cars. There have been lots of competitors but City has came out strong among all and completed 20 years in India. I believe the 'City' brand has lots of life still left and the brand will continue to evolve into a better 'City' with each coming generation.

I expect 2019 generation to continue to be a benchmark in terms of design and petrol engine. Honda should tweak the petrol engine and increase its power to meet the changing times. Ground clearance issue must be well sorted. Honda should keep the existing customers in mind if they want to retain their old City owners and buy a new generation instead of switching to something else in the same segment.

Good competitors like Verna & Ciaz will surely push Honda engineers to build an awesome 2019 upcoming generation City.

Here's my City celebrating brand's 20 years in India.