[Durango Dude]

If the news is true, Honda is getting greedy in these desperate times. I think it wants to price the New City at a "hefty" premium. I find the present City perfect for the city, be it dimensions, seating comfort, fuel efficiency, performance. It's not wide (1695mm) it's lesser than most premium hatchbacks and easy to nip and tuck in and out of traffic.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by rahulcmoulee

I feel like a lot of 5 star hotels wouldn't mind picking up a 4th Gen City for their fleets. City has a prestigious reputation and at reduced prices it makes a lot of financial sense compared to an Altis (discontinued now I think) and Yaris which is petrol only. Many cabbies considering a Ciaz might also take a look at the City.

That and coupled with Honda offering 10 year warranty at a time most manufacturers shy away from Diesel cars should potentially give them an upper hand.

Wonder if the new City will be sold at a premium under the RS badge?

[Carpainter]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

If the news is true, Honda is getting greedy in these desperate times. I think it wants to price the New City at a "hefty" premium.

Current City has already been priced quite high compared to its older generations. Top end model cost more than 15L onroad while Civic starts at 19.5L onroad. I don't think there is much headroom left for the new City to be priced higher. May be a few thousand bucks but not more than that. I hope Honda won't become so stupid to match price of top end City to that of base Civic. That would be a pricing disaster and will definitely give Ciaz and the likes an upper hand. Selling two generations simultaneously will only dilute the brand image and if the taxi segment don't accept the current model then it will be eating dust in showrooms. Honda should put their efforts elsewhere and launch a compact suv. Their business strategy in India has been totally screwed.

[momsonlydriver]

If Honda is planning to sell their cars to cab service then I think I'm the only one cool about it. As a frequent Uber user I always find legroom to be a complaint so if I book for an Uber X and I expect a Honda City to arrive - I'll be more than happy.
Dzire (sub 4m) has always been a cramped experience and I prefer cars like Tiago or Amaze or Xcent to pop in my list (which is still a compromise for a person with really long legs). A stripped down city will be perfect for cab service.

[Sarinkrc]

After reading this article , i feel Honda has become desperate for sales. I don't recall Honda vehicles selling or targeting its vehicles to fleet operators / taxis in most parts of the world though i have seen a few Mobilio taxis plying around. Probably after the demise of Etios i think Honda saw an opportunity but in spite of that Etios had sales hovering around 2000-3000 per month i think. Well need to see in the long run if it will help Honda or not. Honda would have sensed an opportunity since Toyota & Maruti Suzuki doesnt have Diesel cars presently so why not and make use of the oppurtunity and sell BS6 Honda diesel vehicles. Honda should have learnt from KIA Seltos's success and should have launched a mini Suv to compete against Seltos & Creta. But unfortunately their think tank is still scratching their heads on how to sell cars to customers.

[PrideRed]

This decision is a bit risky but I like their thought process. To me there is no point in Honda trying the SUV segment, I don't find any of their RV's outstanding. Love their sedans, just look at new Amaze/City/Civic /Accord. Most of manufactures are bidding good bye to sedan where as Honda's effort to offer more sedan models might actually pay back. There is sizeable chunk of customer who prefer sedan though demand is decreasing.

[govindremesh]

I would take that news with a bucketful of salt, considering the source. Marketing basics dictate that you don't kill your cash cow. Introducing a sub brand of city will not only confuse the public, but it would take away the "(upper) middle class aspirational car" that the city stands for, diluting, if not, killing the brand.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

I’m an owner. My iDTEC V has done almost 150k km.

Your comments scare me We chose city as our family car just for its build quality and reliability. We've a habit of keeping cars for 10+ years. Fortunately, our previous car only clocked 40K on the ODO in 16 years, so hopefully the build quality holds up!

Are you sure that the issue has not been fixed with the later builds? I know that the cars of 2014 were poorly built, but then they shifted the production to Rajashthan factory at the end of 2014/early 2015 and the build quality improved

Originally Posted by GTO

If it is, I will be terribly disappointed as someone who has owned 3 Hondas.

With the new sub brand, they'll most probably confuse customers in the 7-10 lakh price bracket with Amaze, WR-V , Jazz and the rumoured "budget City" . Guess Honda took your words "if you don't cannibalize your products, your competition will" a bit too seriously, eh GTO?

[sharninder]

Originally Posted by GTO

No way! I owned the 1st-gen and it was a bare-basic Asia-spec cheap sedan. It felt terribly outdated even in 2005. Main good things about it were the engine + gearbox + steering. Everything else sucked.

Thank you for saying this GTO. I used to feel left out every time people praised the first gen City. I never owned one but drove a friend's first gen a LOT and except for the engine and steering, liked nothing about it. It's surprising people still praise that car.

[Pratyush2407]

Unpopular Opinion!

I feel it makes sense for Honda to sell the 4th Gen City at discounted rates along with the 5th gen city.

For one, its only the sedan's that are bringing in sales for Honda India.
There is already a large gap in pricing between the Ciaz and City/Verna. With the new gen expected to be even more expensive and rumours that it will be moving half a segment above, the price gap will only increase and it will be leaving a void which the Ciaz will happily capitalize on.

Ciaz has a free run in the 10-12 lakh sedan segment and, in my opinion, the 4th gen city at those prices is a perfect competitor to the Ciaz, especially because it will also have a diesel engine advantage too.

I do also agree that this might tarnish the "City" brand name but in my opinion, this name was already tarnished a while ago and isn't that aspirational anymore anyway.

[Slickshift99]

I can confirm that this news is 100% true. While my friend was on the hunt for a new car , we checked out the honda city but at the showroom after the test drive i proclaimed that the new city is about to be launched in the indian market very soon and he must wait for the New City.
To this ,the sales manager told us that the new city is going to be much more expensive than the current gen. and thus will be sold alongside this model, he claimed this to be an "insider information" from Honda India to capture a larger % of population to own the "City" adding to this he claimed that only the top end 2 varients will be launched in India and may cost about 18-20L.
I thought he was just trying to sell his stock and not loose a potential customer but now as these news are surfacing the internet, i think his "insider information" was indeed true.

[wheeledwanderer]

They will kill the sales of 5th Gen even before it is launched. Masses will think why pay higher for 5th Gen while one can get 4th Gen for cheaper price. Such a pathetic decision. Sad to see!

[Shreyans_Jain]

If anything, this can be a tactic to get the new City accepted at a higher price point. The current City is established as a 15-17L car. With both the current and the new one in the showroom together, it will be easier to sell the Gen5 for 18-20L as they perhaps want to. Otherwise, it’s a hard sell at these prices. In meanwhile, whatever sales Gen4 can garner is added bonus. If it fails, it can always be withdrawn after 6 months, it’s job is done.

[GipsyDanger]

They are clueless, aren't they, the Honda chaps?

After totally misreading the Indian market by introducing a sedan in a dying segment (Civic) and overpricing an SUV in a booming segment (the CR-V, although both are great cars), they still haven't a clue on what's happening right now. So all they can do, is milk their cash cow as much as possible. I'm not saying that this will end up canibalising the sales of its newer brother like Ford Classic, and then sink badly, but, again it may....

Yes, it may sell well, perhaps, but for how long? It's not 2007 anymore with the likes of the Baleno and SX4. The competitors are getting really close. All that investment money should've been put to use on bringing the HR-V, which although outdated would've still pulled sedan owners under the Honda brand.

Enjoy chewing the gummy bears in your space helmet, Honda. Enjoy while it lasts.

[CarguyNish]

Whatever Honda decides, there wont be 2 ways about it, either it'll click or fail. We all know that don't we, if there is a Positive, there has to be Negative.

While this is a sign that the brand is after volumes especially with many cars being discontinued in diesel avatars post BS6 Norms. I think they might have analysed every sedans (<4m / > 4m) before coming to this decision.

Some cars which they may have taken into consideration are

1. Dzire - Now it doesn't have Diesel Option anymore. But this car did well especially as a cab in smaller cities as well as some metros, also private buyers found it very useful. Diesel Dzire was around 9-12 lakhs.

2. Ciaz - Direct and most threatening rival to city since its launch in Mid 2014. Both were neck and neck, but City was better in terms of Seat Comfort and better Engine. (MJD 1.3).

3. Etios - This might be the biggest reason for Honda to act this way. Anyone looking at Etios might look at City instead, because it does most of the things that Etios did, in a bit more premium manner.

There are other cars as well like Rapid/Vento/Verito/Scala/Sunny etc to name a few. (Last 2 were 3rd Gen City rivals in 2011/2012).

All these above cars fall in 9-14 lakh price bracket. With this 4th Gen City, Honda might be targeting that price bracket cars across segment. Basically they are offering a well rounded option to these now discontinued cars. Only Diesel will have more impact though since the Etios and Dzire in diesel version sold in higher numbers. Urban Buyers will prefer petrol while customers from smaller cities and rural areas will prefer diesel no matter what the general market preference is.

Now, when you have both generations in same showroom, people are bound to choose cheaper one. This point applies to people who don't care about smaller details like we do, nor ones who are not keen on expensive models, they just want a car at certain price range, that's it. An Etios or Dzire prospective buyer will prefer Older City due to its lower price tag alone (If Honda prices it lower), but at the same time, he will be appreciating the better bits in the older City compared to Dzire and Etios. By doing this, Honda will get some volumes.


Now what happens to New 5th Gen City,

Simply put, those who want a fresh car and not looking at savings will pick the 5th gen. This will happen to Urban buyers where they look at new fresh car with enough features and premium associated with it. When both cars co-exist, very few people will be knowing they are same cars, for majority the design alone will make them think that both are different and importantly at different price range. This will help both older and newer City

Different types of customers for 2 Different generation cars under same showroom is what Honda is aiming at.


Now coming to the other part,

In case, Honda decides to keep both cars under same floor, they need to make sure the following points are taken care of,

1. Keep Variants of 4th Gen City to 1/2
2. Price it really well, this is the most difficult part.
3. Make sure the differences between 2 are well spread out with respect to pricing


Lastly, they shouldn't go overboard with the New 5th Gen City even as they have 4th Gen one. Price difference of 2-3 lakhs will be ok i guess.


Before Honda, Hyundai (Accent Executive/Verna) and Ford (Fiesta Classic/Global Fiesta) have attempted this with their respective cars and had very little success. Honda should be wary of that.

For both brands, older cars didn't bring respectable numbers despite being cheaper and newer cars failed to gain buyers despite being more advanced and better in each and every way. This point alone could be a make or break for Honda India.

[swapnil.awate]

In 2008, I came across an interview of a senior Honda executive, who said something to this effect - We won’t like to see a Honda among fleet operators. We have an image of personal car and we care for it.

Anyway, that was the time when Honda used care about brand and image.