All-new 2020 Honda City sedan spied testing for the first time

The Honda City has been one of the most popular sedans for over two decades now. In its fourth generation right now, the sedan is looking towards a generation update that will be here by next year. Honda has been working on the fifth-generation model of the car since some time now and has managed to keep the car under wraps. However, the car has now been spotted testing for the first time in Thailand. The images below by Drive Master show the fifth generation Honda City being testing around city roads.

As seen in these spy shots, the new City seems to have developed a more mature look. The front grille will carry a large chunk of chrome with the Honda logo at its centre. The headlights and taillights are expected to feature LED elements while the whole car seems to have grown a bit in terms of dimensions. The design will be in line with Honda’s current design policy that is seen on cars like the Civic and the new Accord.

The rear end too receives its fair share of changes with a tweaked tail light design as well as a more sporty boot. The boot lid even gets a spoiler kink towards its end which adds a dash of sportiness to the car.

As for the engines and, the fifth-generation Honda City will get a mild hybrid system along with the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine. As it will be a mild hybrid system and not a fully fledged hybrid system, the prices of the car will not go up by a large margin. This mild hybrid system will help cut emissions and boost the fuel efficiency of the car. The other engine on the car will be the 1.5-litre i-DTEC turbocharged diesel engine that is found on the current generation car.  However, in the new City, it will get some heavy changes in order to make it BSVI compliant.

As for the gearboxes, the petrol engine is likely to get the 5-speed manual and CVT automatic gearboxes whereas the diesel engine is expected to continue with the 6-speed manual gearbox. Whether or not will the diesel engine come with the CVT box is something that can’t be said as of yet. This is because the modifications that need to be done on the diesel engine to make it BSVI compliant will drive up costs quite high and adding an automatic to it will skyrocket its prices. But the possibility of a diesel-CVT option can’t be ruled out right now.

The fifth generation Honda City will be launched in India sometime next year. It will continue rivalling the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Hyundai Verna and Volkswagen Vento among others in the segment. However, a few of its rivals like the Hyundai Verna will be updated too by that time and therefore it will be a good show when they all head for the sales crown.