The tenth generation Honda Civic has continued its dominance by beating Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra in May 2019
Honda cars India began pre-bookings of the tenth generation Civic back in February and it was officially launched on March 7 with huge expectation. In a period of fewer than two weeks of its market entry, Honda released a statement saying that the all-new Civic had received well over 1,600 bookings.
The executive sedan has made a strong comeback after more than six years of absence in India due to the lack of diesel engine and other reasons. It made domestic debut at the 2018 Auto Expo alongside the CR-V and the latter went on sale in October 2018 without receiving as much attention as its sedan sibling.
The Japanese manufacturer took a long hard look and introduced the new Civic without juggling into the busy January month where many new launches took place. As opposed to the eight-gen model that was on sale until its eventual demise, Honda sells the new Civic with a diesel engine shared with the CR-V as the 1.6-litre Earth Dreams unit produces 120 PS and 300 Nm.
| Executive Sedans | No. Of Units In May 2019 |
| Honda Civic | 368 |
| Skoda Octavia | 234 |
| Toyota Corolla | 134 |
| Hyundai Elantra | 105 |
It is only mated to a six-speed manual transmission. However, the major part of Civic’s bookings has gone to the 1.8-litre i-VTEC petrol engine as its more accessible price tag makes it a customer favourite. It develops a maximum power output of 141 PS and 174 Nm and is paired with a CVT automatic transmission with sequential paddle shifters.
Honda wants the new Civic to be the next logical upgrade for the City customers and has positioned the model likewise with prices starting from Rs. 17.70 lakh (ex-showroom). The Civic did shock the segment by registering a massive tally of 2,291 units in its very first month of March 2019 covering 80 per cent of the total sales.
It was followed by 369 units in April as it again finished ahead of Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra. The scenario did not change in May as the Civic garnered 368 units to finish ahead of the trio. The Civic’s lead will more likely continue into the coming months. Skoda appears to be preparing a new Octavia for debut mid next year while the facelifted Elantra and an all-new Corolla are also due for arrival.