The fifth generation Honda City was the most sold mid-size sedan in the country and it contributed to 10 per cent overall growth in the segment in July-Dec period
Honda Cars India relies on its sedan duo of City and Amaze for gaining volumes in the domestic market. While the Civic was also leading the segment, it had to be discontinued as the brand ceased operations at its Greater Noida plant. The most important launch of the Japanese manufacturer in the last CY was the new generation City as it tried to revive the mid-size sedan segment as a whole.
As expected, the fifth generation Honda City did help in garnering good volumes over the last four of five months. Introduced in July 2020, the City arrived with a redesigned exterior, an updated interior along with the addition of new features. Between January and December 2020, the City sedan posted a cumulative domestic tally of 21,826 units.
The company’s longest-running nameplate in India garnered a market share of 41 per cent in December 2020 in its segment. The City also upped the ante in the mid-size sedan segment as it contributed to an overall growth of 10 per cent in the period between July and December 2020. The cumulative sales for the segment in that period stood at 45,277 units.
When compared to same period last year, a total of 41,122 units were recorded. The City’s volumes in the July-December 2020 timeframe stood at 17,347 units. In the final month of the last CY, Honda recorded a cumulative domestic tally of 2,717 units as against 1,004 units during the same period in 2019 with a massive YoY sales growth of 171 per cent.
Compared to the previous month of November 2020, 23 per cent negative sales growth was encountered as 3,523 units were sold. The City was also the second most sold model for Honda in December 2020 behind the Amaze. The fifth generation Honda City is the longest and widest sedan in the mid-size sedan space and is powered by a 1.5-litre i-VREC DOHC VTC petrol and a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine.
The top-sped ZX grade contributed to almost 50 per cent of the demand and the share of CVT variants is 48 per cent in the first six months. Some of the notable features in the Honda City are in-car connectivity with Alexa, Honda Connect with telematics, LED headlamps, Z-shaped wraparound LED tail lamps, 17.7 cm HD full color TFT, LaneWatch camera, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) and so on.