Car maker Honda Siel Cars India on Thursday launched the third generation model of its Sedan, City, priced between Rs 7.7 lakh and Rs 8.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The new Honda City would come in three different grades with both automatic and manual transmissions and would be available with a 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine.
Honda City is the one of the most successful car brands in the country. With this launch, India will become the largest market for Honda City, HSCI President and CEO M Takadegawa told reporters here.
Before India, the company has recently introduced its new City in Thailand.
Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui on Thursday unveiled a new version of the City, Honda’s best-selling compact sedan in India, aiming to boost sales in this key emerging market as concern grows of a global slowdown in the auto industry.
With sales in the U.S., the world’s largest auto market, falling to their lowest levels in years, auto makers have looked to red hot markets like India and China to help pick up the slack.
But now, these other auto markets are also showing signs of weakness. In India, auto sales fell in August, the second monthly decline in a row. Sales in China also fell, marking the first decline in auto sales in two years.
“Even in India, they are not immune to the cyclical nature of the economy,” says Tatsuo Yoshida, an analyst for UBS Securities in Tokyo. “Investors have been very nervous about near term prospects of the Indian automobile market.”
Looking to draw buyers back into the dealer showrooms during the upcoming festival months in India, Honda’s new City model is part of a wave of new vehicle launches by car makers into the country’s increasingly crowded auto market.
