[CrAzY dRiVeR]

The taxi variant rendered by SRK for IndianAutosBlog -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ju4xzQBBg

[GTO]

Honda Cars shares the following statement with us.

The All New 5th Generation Honda City is one of the eagerly awaited launches of this year. Due to the lockdown situation, we are working on its launch timelines to align it with production resumption, re-opening of dealership facilities and also community normalcy. The launch of All New City will be our key priority area and we are confident that it will create new benchmark of supremacy in the mid-size sedan segment with its highly advanced product offering.

Regarding the existing 4th Gen City, it’s a very successful model and continues to be extremely popular. As you know, we recently introduced its BS-6 version, so technically we can produce and sell it in BS-6 regime as well. This will give wider buying choice to our customers in terms of product trims and price range. The City customers have predominantly been personal buyers and we will keep following the same strategy for the City brand.

[midazolam]

Honda is currently giving deals of around 1 Lakh on the current generation City. Would it be a good idea to consider it, with the new generation around the corner and the deal offered by Honda.
I love the current generation city with it's perfect dimensions for city driving, the new generation being significantly longer and wider.

Confused if I should go with C-SUV like Venue or Brezza or the City.

[Nithesh_M]

Honda has learnt from its Indian Motorcycle Division that discontinuing a popular model to bring in a new one might backfire. They tried it with the Unicorn. Their popular 150cc segment product that was doing good numbers even though it was long in the tooth.

Eventually HMSI decided to kill it off and replace it with a stylish Unicorn 160. More displacement means better product right? Theoretically yes, the new Unicorn was a better product than the discontinued model but the old model's owners did not see it as an upgrade. The new Unicorn was not well recieved and Honda went back to the board to bring the old bike back. I think the 160 Unicorn was discontinued although I am not sure.

I think that lesson is why Honda will sell the current City alongside the new one.

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honda Cars shares the following statement with us.

That’s a pity, as a passenger, I would have loved to be ferried about in a City taxi rather than a cramped Desire Tour or a bouncy and noisy Innova that rolls all over the place. The quiet, classy interior and the superb back seat would have made the City the best taxi outside of the Corolla. Could have even created a niche taxi segment for itself since there are no competitors in the segment and someone wanting something more comfortable and spacious than the compact sedan has no choice today other than to upgrade to an Innova in most places (and pay almost twice per km)

[rayjaycleoful]

Originally Posted by rayjaycleoful

What would be really successful is if they continue to sell the V and V CVT models for the 4th generation at slightly lower prices. This V model is well equipped and extremely popular, atleast in Gurgaon, and even comes with Carplay now. I'm sure many others think the 4th gen is a better looker anyway.

Not to mention Honda still sells the 3rd Gen City (2009-13) in Pakistan. We should consider ourselves lucky to get the 4th and 5th gen together

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Honda has learnt from its Indian Motorcycle Division that discontinuing a popular model to bring in a new one might backfire.....

Erm.... With the risk of sounding naive, I don't think the Indian commuter 2 wheeler market and the car market are the same. If so, Honda could have very well continued selling the older Citys as they were popular.

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

That’s a pity, as a passenger, I would have loved to be ferried about in a City taxi rather than a cramped Desire Tour or a bouncy and noisy Innova.......

Le Honda India reading this thread. 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't.'

Originally Posted by rayjaycleoful

Not to mention Honda still sells the 3rd Gen City (2009-13) in Pakistan. We should consider ourselves lucky to get the 4th and 5th gen together

Way luckier. They are still getting the previous gen Swift, previous gen WagonR and still gets the Omni a.k.a Bolan/Ravi. For the car prices/ choices our neighbours pay for, they deserve the lower fuel prices too

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Erm.... With the risk of sounding naive, I don't think the Indian commuter 2 wheeler market and the car market are the same.

Honda often shuffles staff between their car and motorcycle division. One reason why I think Mr.Guleria should jump from HMSI to HCIL.

[mints21]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honda Cars shares the following statement with us.

I feel this is not true and they have made this statement in order to ensure that they are able to sell all the inventory lying at the factory and with the dealers.

Simply admitting that Honda will discontinue the 4th generation City would have forced Honda to either write off the unsold inventory or stress the dealer to heavily discount the unsold stock lying with them.

It is pertinent to note that they may not have been able to sell the inventory because of the sudden unexpected lockdown.

To clear the inventory, Honda will sell both the generations together for not more than a year and will then silently discontinue the 4th generation by removing it from their site.

Honda made similar statements before gradually discontinuing Mobilio.

Link:https://www.team-bhp.com/news/honda-...-mobilio-india

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by mints21

I feel this is not true and they have made this statement in order to ensure that they are able to sell all the inventory lying at the factory and with the dealers.

You can hear it directly from Rajesh Goel, Director, Sales & Marketing, Honda Cars India in this video where he explains the two logic behind this move.

1. Technically they still can sell it. It meets all the current norms including BS6.
2. Styling is still relevant compared to competing models.

The current generation will continue in a petrol-only format, whereas the new generation will get both petrol and diesel offerings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhpantDcpQ4

[shibujp]

Apparently Honda does not plan on removing any features and selling stripped out versions of the 4th generation City at lower prices as per an ACI report.

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...ariants-417389

Speaking to Autocar India, Rajesh Goel, senior vice president and director, sales and marketing, Honda Cars India, said, “I definitely am not intending to start stripping the car off its features as I launch the new one. It will still be fairly loaded irrespective of its positioning.”

Moreover, Honda doesn’t intend to focus on the fleet market with the old City. “The decision to do this (offer both generations of the City) is not intended to target or look at fleet sales. The City is a brand which is premium in minds of loyalists, so I would not like to target the fleet market with it,” Goel commented.

Nevertheless I still think this is a crappy move from Honda that will end up diluting their brand quotient even further.

Drive on,
Shibu

[84.monsoon]

I hope at least the old one is named something different so that it does not dilute the City brand. It could be called Honda Jazz Sedan or something, to connect it with the Jaaz version it is based on. Also maybe downgrade it to the 1.2L petrol engine so that it is differentiated based on powertrain also and offer it at an attractive price point around 8-9 lakhs, offering a sedan at premium hatchback prices.

Also, give the new city the diesel engine from the Civic (1.6 Earthdreams engine with single turbocharger). That would put it on par with the Verna in power, with even better torque figures. That would make the new city Diesel attractive, although it will still miss a Diesel Auto.

[krish3]

A good excuse to price the new City sky high, maybe at par with the Civic and phase out the Civic which has flopped. He clearly says its as big as the civic, so there is no reason to keep selling the Civic. They surely aren't going to reduce the prices of the current model.

Bad strategy by Honda, but we'd really know only after the sales figures comes out. The CITY name sells in India, and as he said, its definitely bigger than the Honda name here.

[sumeethaldankar]

Honda is probably justifying the continuation of the old model City to justify the cost of the making the engine compatible with the new emission norms. What they should do is to justify the cost of making the 1.5 engine BS6 compatible they should instead of continuing the old City plonk the new 1.5 litre engine in the face lifted WRV and give us a sport version of same.I am trying to understand how the new City will be priced against the Civic.

[romeomidhun]

Honda sees that the Amaze is going down in sales chart, BR-V and WR-V have already shrunken. They know the brand value of "City", and only City can do the trick. There is no problem in cashing on it. They may be keeping the current City in the C-segment, and launching a "Grand City" in the D-segment. The existing City owners may also upgrade to the "Grand City" instead of going to other brands.