2020 Honda City to get BIGGER than before

Honda Cars India is all set to launch the 5th generation, all-new City sedan in India. Details of the upcoming car have just been leaked on ACI. Dimensions suggest that the new City will get much more larger than the outgoing version. Length, breadth and height measure 4,549 mm, 1,748 mm and 1,489 mm while wheelbase stands at 2,600 mm. Dimensions of the older one stand at 4,440 mm, 1,695 mm and 1,495 mm in length, breadth and height while wheelbase measures an identical 2,600 mm.

Also, the new City sold in India will have a 11 mm longer wheelbase than the one sold in the Thai market. What this means is, the new City will be slightly more spacious than the one sold in Thailand. Honda’s Man-Maximum-Machine-Minimum design will come to the fore in the new City as well. A spacious and well designed car for five adults is what you can expect from the new car. Honda is also expected to increase ground clearance of the India-spec model to ensure that it handles bad roads here competently.

The new City’s media drives will begin shortly, later this month, and the official launch will happen in April 2020. The new car will carry over BS6 certified versions of the petrol and diesel engines that are already in use in the current model. The 1.5 liter-4 cylinder naturally aspirated petrol is likely to make 117 Bhp-145 Nm while the 1.5 liter-4 cylinder all-aluminium turbocharged diesel could make 98.6 Bhp-200 Nm.

Both engines are expected to receive 6 speed manual and CVT automatic gearbox options. The diesel automatic trim is expected to get a de-tuned output to suit the CVT gearbox, just like what Honda has done with the Amaze compact sedan. A mild-hybrid version of the petrol City is also expected to come in sometime next year. The City Mild Hybrid will directly challenge the Ciaz mild hybrid – the only hybrid car in its segment presently.

In terms of pricing, the new Honda City is likely to be offered at a premium compared to its rivals. There’s enough goodwill and fan following for the City brand in India for Honda to pull off a premium price tag, and this has been the case across generations of the car. So, expect the new Honda City to start at a price tag close to Rs. 9 lakh for the base-petrol model. This will make it significantly pricier than both the Hyundai Verna – which will get a facelift soon – and the Maruti Ciaz, which continues to be the best-value sedan in the segment.